Hitting out at George Soros, who had termed PM Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani as "close allies" whose "fate is intertwined", External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the billionaire investor was an "old, rich opinionated person."
Addressing a session with Australian Minister Chris Brown at the Raisina@Sydney Dialogue, Jaishankar said, "Mr Soros is an old, rich opinionated person sitting in New York who still thinks that his views should determine how the entire world works...such people actually invest resources in shaping narratives." The election throws up a different outcome then they will say it is a flawed democracy and the beauty is that all this is done under the pretence of advocacy of open society," the external affairs minister said.
Soros had in his remarks at the Munich Security Conference this Thursday said, "Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in Parliament."
Terming Modi and Adani as "close allies," whose "fate is intertwined", the 92-year-old billionaire investor said, "This will significantly weaken Modi's stranglehold on India's federal government and open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms." "I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India," Soros said in his remarks delivered at the 2023 Munich Security Conference. In Sydney, Jaishankar today said, "When I look at my own democracy, I've today a voter turnout, which is unprecedented, electoral outcomes which are decisive, electoral process which is not questioned. We're not one of those countries where after elections, somebody goes to arbitrate in court."
"Mr Soros said India is a democratic country but he doesn't think the Prime minister of India is a democrat. He earlier accused us of planning to strip millions Muslims of their citizenship which of course didn't happen, it was a ridiculous suggestion," the external affairs minister said. Globalisation, Jaishankar said, allows seamless opportunities but also allows narratives to be shaped, money to come in, and organisations to get about their agenda. "All this is done under the pretence of advocacy of open society of transparency, etc," he said.
(With ANI inputs)
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