- India has blasted billionaire investor George Soros after he claimed the turmoil in Adani would weaken Prime Minister Narendras Modi’s power and lead to a “democratic revival” in the country.
- At a conference in Sydney over the weekend, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Soros’s comments typified a “Euro-Atlantic perspective” and dismissed his allegations.
- The billionaire predicted Adani’s troubles will “significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government” and “open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms.”
NDIA – JANUARY 18 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Gautam Adani, Chairman and Founder of Adani Group and other delegates at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit at Mahatma Mandir Exhibition cum Convention Center on January 18, 2019 in Gandhinagar, India.
Hindustan Times | | Getty Images
India has blasted billionaire investor George Soros after he claimed the turmoil in Adani would weaken Prime Minister Narendras Modi’s power and lead to a “democratic revival” in the country.
The latest row highlights the renewed scrutiny of the relationship between India’s leader and business tycoon Gautam Adani, who has lost billions in net worth since a short seller report accused his companies of fraud. The Adani Group has denied these allegations, calling the report a “calculated attack on India”.
Last week Soros criticized the Prime Minister for saying that India is a democracy but Modi is “not a democrat”. At a conference in Sydney over the weekend, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Soros’s comments typified a “Euro-Atlantic perspective” and dismissed his allegations.
“There are still people in the world who believe that their definition, their preferences, their views must override everything else,” Jaishankar said.
He added that as the world became rebalanced and less Euro-Atlantic, there was “a debate and a conversation we need to have about democracy,” including its values, that defined democracy.
“He’s old, rich, wayward and dangerous, because what happens when people like that, and those kinds of views, and those kinds of organizations — they actually put resources into shaping narratives,” Jaishankar said in response to a question about the billionaire’s remarks .
India’s voters will decide “how the country should [be] run,” said the Foreign Minister.
“It worries us. We are a country that went through colonialism. We know the dangers of what happens when there is outside interference,” added Jaishankar.
Soros’ criticism focused on the cozy relationship between Modi and Adani.
“Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their destinies are intertwined. Adani Enterprises tried to raise capital on the stock market but failed,” Soros said.
Both men are from the western Indian state of Gujarat. Adani was an early supporter of Modi’s political aspirations and championed the Indian leader’s growth vision for the country. Modi flew on an Adani jet after being elected to national office in 2014.
But Adani lost his crown as Asia’s richest man within days after short-selling firm Hindenburg Research accused of fraud. The Adani group has denied wrongdoing and fired back at the company in a 400+ page counterstatement.
“Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his shares have collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the issue, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament,” Soros said.
The billionaire predicted Adani’s troubles will “significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government” and “open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms.”
“I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India,” Soros said.
The Hungarian-born investor is the founder of the advocacy network Open Society Foundations, through which he has raised more than $32 billion, according to his website. The network said it awards “thousands of grants each year to build inclusive and vibrant democracies,” with active projects in more than 120 countries.
Opposition critics have also seized upon the Hindenburg report to attack Modi and his party ahead of next year’s national elections. India’s main opposition party in Congress has staged protests and called for an investigation into Hindenburg’s allegations.
However, the opposition party quickly distanced itself from Soros’ statements.
“Whether the Prime Minister-linked Adani fraud will spark a democratic revival in India is entirely up to Congress, opposition parties and our electoral process,” tweeted Congress Secretary-General Jairam Ramesh. “It has NOTHING to do with George Soros.”
Politically, it is difficult to predict what impact, if any, the Adani probe will have on Modi’s popularity and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, observers said.
Still, the relationship between Modi and Adani is “so long and strong” that it will be difficult for the prime minister and his party to emerge unscathed from this crisis, said Ashok Swain, head of the university’s department of peace and conflict studies Uppsala Sweden recently announced this to CNBC.