The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come out all guns blazing against the Modi government for investing Rs 1 lakh 57 thousand crore of Provident Fund (PF) money belonging to 28 crore employees in Adani and other companies. In a press conference held on Thursday, senior leaders of the AAP, Rajya Sabha MP Shri Sanjay Singh and party spokesperson Ms. Reena Gupta, alleged that the Adani Group’s scams involve the plunder of the hard-earned money of Indians, including government and private employees, and that despite warnings from economists, the government continues to invest in these companies.
AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Shri Sanjay Singh said that the Prime Minister is jeopardising the future of 28 crore employees of the country by investing Rs 1.57 lakh crore of their provident fund in Adani and other companies. He demanded answers from the Prime Minister, asking who would be responsible if this money was lost. Additionally, the party spokesperson, Ms. Reena Gupta, called for Adani Port and Adani Enterprises to be removed from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) indexes until the Adani Group gets a clean chit from the Supreme Court Committee.
Shri Sanjay Singh said, “The Modi-Adani corruption scams are so extensive, they could fill a Netflix series. I have already aired the first four episodes, but there are more to come. Today, I want to discuss a grave matter that concerns 280 million Indians whose hard-earned money is being siphoned off to benefit a select group of capitalists, courtesy of Narendra Modi’s government.” He explained that the Modi government has been gambling with people’s hard-earned provident fund money, after a decision in 2015, and handing it over to the capitalists. They withdrew provident fund money, deducted from the government and private employees, to buy shares in 50 companies, including Adani Ports and Adani Enterprises—two Adani companies that should have instead been under their scanner. “A shocking 1,57,000 crore of PF money continues to be invested in Nifty ETF , and 38,000 crore are invested annually. This is not just corruption; it is a betrayal of the rights and future of 280 million people,” he said.
The Rajya Sabha MP has been exposing various aspects of the Modi-Adani scam, including the coal block scams in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. He has also exposed how six Adani Group subsidiaries cheated the people of Maharashtra and Rajasthan by artificially inflating power equipment invoices.
Shri Sanjay Singh further urged the elderly who support Narendra Modi to think about what is happening to their money. He asked them to consider how the current Prime Minister is playing with their future and to discuss this matter with others. Sanjay Singh called out to all those who loudly shout slogans in support of Narendra Modi to realise that he has invested the provident fund money of 28 crore people, including their own, in Adani’s fraud companies.
Shri Sanjay Singh referred to the Hindenburg Research report, published on January 24 this year, which exposed the stock manipulation, corruption, and fraud within the Adani Group through a wave of shell firms. Financial experts and economists have been warning the markets ever since not to invest their money in Adani’s companies. However, despite these warnings, in a meeting on March 27th, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) board, chaired by the Union Labour and Employment Minister Shri Bhupendra Yadav, decided to invest the provident fund money of the employees in Adani’s group, ignoring the risks to employees’ future funds.
He questioned who will be responsible when this money sinks, and when the fraud capitalists loot 1,57,000 crore rupees of people’s PF and run away. Sanjay Singh emphasised that all of this is happening at a time when international institutions have downgraded the rating and weightage of Adani’s companies, cautioning investors against investing in it due to uncertainty about the actual value of their shares. “Despite this, on March 27th, the Indian Government decided to continue to invest PF funds in Adani’s firms,” he added.
Addressing PM Modi, the Rajya Sabha MP asked, “Why do you have such an affinity for Adani? Why are you robbing millions of people in the country to benefit Adani? You are taking money from institutions like LIC, SBI, and other banks to support Adani’s interests. And now, you are exploiting the PF money that is crucial for the lives of millions of people”
AAP spokesperson, Ms. Reena Gupta, highlighted the risks associated with investing in Adani Group’s shares and raised concerns about the lack of action taken by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to address the risks. She said, “Morgan Stanley’s index, one of America’s largest indexes, has decided to lower the weightage of Adani Group in their index due to uncertainty about the true value of their shares. Similarly, the S&P index has also decided to either decrease Adani Group’s weight or remove its shares from some of its indexes. However, both companies of the Adani Group were still not removed from the Nifty index, which is invested in by millions of people in the country every day.” She questioned if there was pressure from the Government of India on the NSE to not take any action against Adani Group.
Ms. Reena Gupta demanded that until a clean chit is given by the Supreme Court committee, both companies of the Adani Group should be removed from the NSE index to protect the investments of small and retired investors. She questioned why the government is not taking this decision while indices across the world are removing Adani Group companies from their indices.
Shri Sanjay Singh further explained that the Hindenburg report clearly indicated that the share value was overvalued by funnelling black money into Adani’s company in India from abroad. He said the first and foremost question is why the government decided to invest a whopping 1,57,000 crore rupees, which is the hard-earned money of millions of people in the country, in speculative shares. He suggested that there are reputable banks and institutions where PF money can be invested. He further questioned why the government did not exclude Adani’s companies from the list of those in whose shares the PF money is being invested, even after the Hindenburg report exposed Adani’s financial irregularities. He pointed out that investing in fraudulent shares with PF money could result in the loss of millions of people’s money. Shri Singh also blamed the Modi government for allowing Adani to engage in such activities.
Shri Sanjay Singh went on to say, “LIC invested crores of people’s money in Adani and as a result, almost 60,000 crore rupees of LIC’s investment have gone down the drain. Until a few days ago, the value of the investment made by LIC was 87 thousand crore rupees, which has now decreased to about 27 thousand crore rupees. This means that 60,000 crore rupees of people’s hard-earned money have been lost. Similarly, SBI has also loaned money to Adani’s companies and as those companies sink, it is inevitable that people’s money will also sink. Despite the Hindenburg report, you are still giving the PF money of crores of people to Adani. The meeting of EPFO, chaired by Shri Bhupendra Yadav on March 27, approved a decision to invest that money in Adani’s firms. This shows that you are blindly in love with Adani and not seeing reality. Why were both companies of your friend, whose sinking you are aware of, not removed from the index after such a big report?”
Shri Sanjay Singh lambasted PM Shri Narendra Modi’s claims of fighting corruption and stated, “The current BJP government, headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, is the most corrupt government in India’s history since independence. In this regime, corruption has become centralised and broken all records, with scams worth mind-boggling lakhs of crores of rupees being committed. The government has waived off large amounts of money for a few capitalists, and everything has been handed over to Gautam Adani, including a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh crore and waiving off a loan of 86 thousand crore rupees.”
The Rajya Sabha MP said that if Modi wants to take action against corruption, he must first take action against himself, his friends Adani, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Lalit Modi, Nitin Sandesara, Hemant Biswa Sarma, Narayan Rane, BS Yeddyurappa, and others. Shri Sanjay Singh criticised Modi’s claim of fighting corruption and argued that all the corrupt people are now gathered around him, and they have his full protection. He also accused Modi of using Adani’s private planes, and of not setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate Adani scams, despite 19 political parties demanding the same. He alleged that PM Shri Narendra Modi and his government have developed their corrupt financial power through Adani, in order to establish their corrupt political power. In conclusion, the party urged the government to take immediate action to prevent further loss of investment and protect the interests of the people.
