BJP, Cong attack Soros over democracy remark

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress hit out at George Soros on Friday, a day after the billionaire philanthropist seemed to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public event.

The rival parties, however, had different reasons to slam Soros, who said the controversy around Adani Group would weaken Modi and lead to a “democratic revival in India”.

BJP leader and Union minister Smriti Irani on Friday accused Soros of seeking to demonise India’s democracy and bring an onslaught on the country’s economy for his personal gains.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said whether the Adani issue sparks a democratic revival depends entirely on the opposition parties, and had nothing to do with Soros.

Addressing the Munich Security Conference on Thursday, Soros claimed a report by Hindenburg Research, which accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and fraud, would harm Modi politically. “Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies and their fate is intertwined... Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament,” he said. “I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India.”

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, women and child development minister Irani said: “The man who broke the Bank of England and is designated by a nation as an economic war criminal has now expressed his desire to break the Indian democracy. As you know George Soros, an international entrepreneur who hedges bets against many countries, has now declared his ill intentions to intervene in the democratic processes of India.

“Soros wants a government which is pliable to his needs and it is more than evident from his statements that he has pronounced funding of over $1 billion particularly to target leaders like PM Modi is significant,” she said, adding that a war is being mounted against India and what stands between that war and India’s interests is Modi.

“Today as a citizen I call upon every individual and organisation to denounce the intention of Soros, who seeks to demonise our democracy,” she said.

In a tweet, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Whether the PM-linked Adani scam sparks a democratic revival in India depends entirely on the Congress, Opposition parties & our electoral process.”