New Delhi: US businessman George Soros’s remarks are intended to demonise India and undermine its democracy, Union minister Smriti Irani said Friday. Irani attacked the billionaire investor for saying that the Hindenburg-Adani controversy could spark a democratic revival in India at an event Thursday.
“The man who broke the Bank of England, a man who is designated as an economic war criminal, has now pronounced his desire to break the Indian democracy. George Soros, who hedges bets against many countries, has now declared his ill intentions in the democratic processes of India,” Irani told the media, referring to Soros pocketing $1 billion by betting against the British pound in 1992.
She added that Soros wants a government that is pliable in order to ensure the success of his “nefarious plans”. Irani alleged, “That he has pronounced funding of over one billion dollars particularly to target leaders like PM Modi, is significant.”
On Thursday, speaking about authoritarianism and climate change at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Soros also discussed the Adani crisis, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have to answer questions from foreign investors.
“Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their fate is intertwined. Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but failed. Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in Parliament,” he said.
“This 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 naïve, but I expect a democratic revival in India,” Soros said.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) mouthpiece Organiser also has a cover story on Soros in its latest edition, where it calls him a “master instigator”. The article says, “The Open Society Foundation of George Soros, contrary to its vouched values, funds the Left-Islamist-missionary nexus to weaken the democratic Institutions. For Soros and his network, in the name of war against ‘nationalists’, Bharat is the most prominent target to create societal fissures, weaken the civilisational foundation and ultimately, destabilise the democratic system.”
In another article written in a previous edition, Hindenburg Research’s “attack” on Adani was compared to the 1992 sterling crisis (Black Wednesday) in which Soros played a significant role. The article added that such manipulation and the “malicious targeting of companies, currencies, and in turn, economies” isn’t new.
Other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders also targeted Soros Friday. BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi called him an “American Madman” and claimed Soros wanted to replace the “nationalist government in Bharat” with a “Pappu”.
Ravi alleged that the Congress and its “evil ecosystem” were wholeheartedly supporting Soros and doing everything to “destabilise” India’s growth and prosperity.
Party general secretary B.L. Santosh tweeted, “Destructor in chief of Democracy, its values & traditions is out on a prowl after all his cronies failed. Stay focussed, stay logical. We are on the side of truth. Truth only prevails.”
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Who is George Soros
Soros is a Hungarian-American businessman, investor and philanthropist who is famous for being the man who “broke the Bank of England” and made $1.5 billion in just a single month by betting against the British pound.
In past few years, he has also expressed concern about the alleged rise of authoritarianism in India and the “erosion of democratic institutions” under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In Davos in 2020, he had said, “The biggest and most frightening setback came in India where a democratically elected Narendra Modi is creating a Hindu nationalist state, imposing punitive measures on Kashmir, a semi-autonomous Muslim region, and threatening to deprive millions of Muslims of their citizenship.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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