External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has strongly reacted to a recent comment made by billionaire investor George Soros who has weighed in on the ongoing Adani-Hindenburg row stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "silent" on the issue and will have to "answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament."
Addressing a session with Australian Minister Chris Brown at the Raisina@Sydney Dialogue , Jaishankar said,"Mr Soros is an old, rich opinionated person sitting in New York who still thinks that his views should determine how the entire world works...such people actually invest resources in shaping narratives."
“People like him think an election is good if the person they want to see, wins and if the election throws up a different outcome then they will say it is a flawed democracy and the beauty is that all this is done under the pretence of advocacy of open society,” said EAM Dr S Jaishankar.
In Sydney, Jaishankar today said, "When I look at my own democracy, I've today a voter turnout, which is unprecedented, electoral outcomes which are decisive, electoral process which is not questioned. We're not one of those countries where after elections, somebody goes to arbitrate in court."
"Mr Soros said India is a democratic country but he doesn't think the Prime minister of India is a democrat. He earlier accused us of planning to strip millions Muslims of their citizenship which of course didn't happen, it was a ridiculous suggestion," the external affairs minister said.
Globalisation, Jaishankar said, allows seamless opportunities but also allows narratives to be shaped, money to come in, and organisations to get about their agenda.
"All this is done under the pretence of advocacy of open society of transparency, etc," he said.
Hitting out at Soros' comments, Jaishankar said, "If you do this kind of scaremongering...millions of people will be deprived of citizenship. It actually does real damage to the societal fabric because somebody out there believes you. You create that kind of fear psychosis."
George Soros in a speech on Thursday said that Gautam Adani is "accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards."
"Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market but failed," Soros said.
Adani Group has been accused by US shortseller Hindenburg of engaging in "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud" over decades, a claim that Adani Group has stoutly denied.
Terming Modi and Adani as "close allies," whose "fate is intertwined", the 92-year-old billionaire investor 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 naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India," Soros said in his remarks delivered at the 2023 Munich Security Conference.
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