Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday sought to infuse enthusiasm in the market.

“Buy before June 4; it (the market) will shoot up,” he said in an interview
with NDTV.

Anyone taking this as some kind of insider information and rushing to risk their savings in the stock market should stop and think twice. For, this is the BJP’s chief poll strategist trying to conjure the vision of a big victory for his party in the middle of a general election.

The interviewer had asked Shah about “rumours” that the fall in the stock markets owed to fears about the BJP’s seats tally coming down this general election.

Dismissing the “rumours”, Shah argued that people should instead take advantage of the fall in shares and invest their money, so they make gains when the market rebounds after June 4, the day the votes are counted.

The BJP-led NDA will win “400-plus seats”, the home minister asserted.

“Sixteen times the stock market has witnessed bigger dips than the recent ones. It (stock market dips) should not be linked to the elections,” Shah said.

“Anyway, rumours may be there. You can buy before June 4, it (the market) will shoot up.”

Unlike mutual fund ads that egg people on to invest, he did not offer the statutory warning: “Mutual fund investments are subject to market risk. Read the document carefully before investing.”

The interviewer had described Shah as a “minute observer of the stock market” — which he did not deny — before asking what “aapki (your) study” says about the current trend of falling market indices.

After Shah spoke of a rebound after June 4, the interviewer asked whether the stock market would hit a new high — “Ek laakh ke paar (above one lakh)”.

The BSE Sensex closed at 72,776.13 on Monday.

“I can’t do an analysis of the stock market but, normally, whenever there is a stable government, the stock market goes up. This time we are going to get more than 400 seats and a steady Modi government is coming back. So the market will go up for sure,” Shah replied.

With reports of low voter turnouts fuelling a perception about a contest “closer than thought” even within the BJP, the party’s top two leaders — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah — have been giving interviews to build a favourable momentum.

Shah’s comments came while the fourth phase of the seven-phase elections was on.

On Monday, the broader indices did witness a turnaround. The BSE Sensex had opened in the morning with a fall of nearly 800 points; after Shah’s interview had been aired, it closed more than 100 points higher.