India’s opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded an investigation into sharp stock market moves towards the end of the just-ended national elections, alleging on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave misleading investment advice.
Projections made by Saturday’s exit polls sent stock markets surging on June 3, with the NSE Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex jumping 3.3% and 3.4% respectively, a day before the Election Commission counted votes and declared results, dragging the markets back down again. Gandhi told reporters: “We are interested in having a JPC to investigate the role of the prime minister, home minister, BJP members.” He was referring to comments made by them during the campaign and a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe.Modi’s outgoing trade minister Piyush Goyal returned the accusation, saying that it was Gandhi who was misleading investors.
On Tuesday, the markets crashed to a four-year low - down nearly 6% - after election results showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party had lost its outright majority and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won only a narrow majority.