Before the Budget Session of Parliament begins on Friday, Narendra Modi told reporters that this may be the first session since he was appointed prime minister in 2014 that has not coincided with accusations “from abroad.”
“One thing you must have seen today is that the media must have taken notice of it. Perhaps this is the first Parliamentary session since 2014 that has gone by without a foreign spark or an attempt to kindle a fire from overseas, Modi told reporters. “I’ve noticed for ten years that people were eager to cause trouble before each session. And there are plenty of those here who wish to add fuel to the fire. I have never seen a session where no spark has been ignited from anywhere in the world.
The PM seemed to be referring to a number of things, including the reports against billionaire Gautam Adani published by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, which recently closed; the Pegasus report on alleged phone tapping; remarks made by international celebrities regarding the 2020–21 farmers’ protest; and the publication of a video depicting women being paraded nude in Manipur, a region riven by conflict.
On January 25, 2023, Hindenburg Research released a report titled “Adani Group: How the World’s Third Richest Man Engineered the Biggest Corporate Fraud in History.” The business giant was charged in the study with stock manipulation and financial misconduct. This occurred six days prior to the annual Budget Session, which begins on January 31.
On February 8, 2023, Rahul Gandhi raised concerns about Adani’s “remarkable ascent” during the Modi administration while participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address.
The Hindenburg Report was rejected by the Adani Group, which said it was a plot to lower its stock values.
According to a new report on India published by Hindenburg Research on August 10, 2024, Madhabi Puri Buch, the head of market regulator SEBI, which was looking into the allegations against the Adani Group, and her husband Dhaval Buch owned shares in offshore funds that were used in the purported Adani money-siphoning scandal.
The Monsoon Session had ended one day earlier, on August 9, following a postponement of its planned July 22–August 12 agenda.
While SEBI claimed to have sufficient internal procedures for handling conflicts of interest, the Buchs refuted the accusation.
In a speech at Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha on December 5, 2024, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi connected these and other occurrences to Parliament Sessions. At a press conference on December 9, he reiterated the same accusation.
He mentioned a study on farmers that was published on February 3, 2021, just a few days after a session of Parliament began. On the same day, American pop sensation Rihanna defended the farmers’ one-year protest on Delhi’s boundaries. Greta Thunberg, a climate activist, was said to be in favour of them on February 4.
In a similar vein, the Pegasus report was made public on July 18, 2021, which was also the date of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, according to Trivedi. Shortly before the start of the Budget Session on January 30, 2023, the Hindenburg report was released on January 24, 2023. In keeping with the Parliament Session that began on January 30, 2023, the BBC released a documentary on January 17, 2023. He was alluding to the 2002 Gujarat riots BBC documentary, which was censored in India.
“It came to light on July 19, 2023, coinciding with the eve of the Parliament Session scheduled to commence on July 20, 2023,” the BJP leader added, alluding to the Manipur video.
In August 2024, while the Parliament was still in session, a report on the SEBI Chairperson was published. “The most recent report was released in the United States on November 20, 2024, a few days before the start of the Parliament Session on November 25, 2024,” Trivedi said, referring to the indictment of Adani in New York on charges that the company had paid $265 million in bribery to Indian officials.
The protests on the farm had also drawn criticism from the Union Ministry of External Affairs, which said that “vested interest groups” were using them to further their own agenda. Additionally, a few of these special interest groups have attempted to rally global opposition to India. In several parts of the world, sculptures of Mahatma Gandhi have been desecrated as a result of such fringe forces. In a statement, the MEA added, “This is very troubling for India and for civilised society everywhere.”