Veteran politician Sharad Pawar has said that Hindenburg Research's allegations against the Adani Group "seemed targeted."
"An individual industrial group of the country was targeted, that is what it seems," the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party said in an interview with NDTV's Sanjay Pugalia.
Pawar, however, said if the industrial group has "done anything wrong, there should be an inquiry." But he does not think a Joint Parliamentary Committee is required on the issue.
"If the Supreme Court, whom no one can influence, if they were to conduct the inquiry, then there was a better chance of the truth coming to light," he said. "After the Supreme Court announced an inquiry, there was no significance to a JPC probe. It was not needed."
The Supreme Court has appointed a six-member committee to inspect the investors' losses due to the allegations by Hindenburg Research, besides asking the market regulator to probe the market rout.
Pawar's viewpoint differs from that of the Congress and some other opposition parties that have been demanding a JPC on the issue. Hindenburg Research has accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and fraud. The Adani Group has termed the accusations "mala fide" and malicious".
Pawar also underscored the contributions of Indian businessmen like Gautam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group, and Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd., to the country.
"These are people who take up such responsibility and work for the name of the country," Pawar said. "If they have done wrong, you attack, but they have created this infrastructure; to criticise them does not feel right to me."
If they have misused their powers and done something wrong, then in a democracy, people have the right to speak against them. "To attack without anything meaningful is something that I cannot understand."
The veteran politician, however, does not see questions being raised against the conglomerates as an "anti-business atmosphere." "I will not accept that this was an anti-business atmosphere. This has been happening in this country for many years," he said, referring to questions being raised about big business houses.
Watch The Full Interview Here
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