The Congress and other opposition parties sought a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the latest report by Hindenburg Research, which had alleged that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch had stake in obscure offshore entities used in Adani scandal.
“The integrity of SEBI, the securities regulator entrusted with safeguarding the wealth of small retail investors, has been gravely compromised by the allegations against its chairperson,” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X.
He wondered why the SEBI chairperson has not resigned yet. “If investors lose their hard-earned money, who will be held accountable—PM Modi, the SEBI Chairperson, or Gautam Adani?,” he asked.
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“It is now abundantly clear why Prime Minister Modi is so afraid of a JPC probe and what it might reveal,” he added.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge noted that the SEBI had previously cleared Adani, a close associate of PM Narendra Modi, before the Supreme Court following the January 2023 Hindenburg Report revelations.
“However, new allegations have surfaced regarding a quid-pro-quo involving the SEBI chief,” he alleged.
Saying that the small and medium investors belonging to the middle class who invest their hard-earned money in the stock market need to be protected, Kharge asserted that a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry is imperative to investigate this scandal.
“Until then, concerns persist that PM Modi will continue to shield his ally, compromising India's Constitutional institutions, painstakingly built over seven decades,” he further said.
The Trinamool Congress demanded Buch’s suspension and a JPC and Supreme Court-monitored probe. "This situation is extraordinary. BJP is clearly on the back-foot in Parliament. We need both- a JPC as well as an SC monitored probe," TMC leader Derek O'Brien said.
The Aam Aadmi Party termed it a “BJP scam” and said Prime Minister Modi should step down on moral grounds.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the Hindenburg Research, which had earlier exposed the stock price manipulation by the Adani group of companies, has now levelled serious charges against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband.
"Given these serious charges against the head of the regulatory authority, it is necessary that the Chairperson step aside till a proper investigation is conducted," the CPI(M) said in a statement.
"The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) reiterates its demand that the entire affair of the stock market manipulation of shares of the Adani Group be probed by setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee," it said.
CPI general secretary D. Raja demanded that Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speak on the issue. "SEBI is considered to be a market regulator. But SEBI chief has conflict of interest... It is a very serious moral question whether she can continue to be chief. She has to think over," he said.