The BJP on Friday accused George Soros of attacking Indian democracy, a day after the US-based billionaire philanthropist said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would “have to answer questions” on the Adani controversy and suggested the issue might weaken Modi’s “stranglehold” on the government.
Women and child development minister Smriti Irani appealed to “every Indian citizen” to fight Soros’s “imperialistic designs”, describing his comments as a “war on India”.
“This war is being mounted against India, and what stands between the war and India’s interest is Prime Minister Modi,” Irani told the media at the BJP headquarters. She described Soros’s comment that the turmoil in the Adani group could trigger a “democratic revival in India” as an attack on the country’s “democratic process”.
“The man who broke the Bank of England. A man who is known and designated as an economic war criminal by a nation has now pronounced his desire to break Indian democracy,” Irani said.
“That George Soros wants a government that is pliable to his needs is more than evident from his statement. That he has pronounced funding of over a billion dollars particularly to target leaders like PM Modi is significant.”
According to PTI, Soros had in 2020 pledged $1 billion to fund a new university network to tackle the spread of nationalism. He had the same year said that nationalism was making headway and the “biggest setback” had been seen in Modi’s India.
The BJP’s attack on Soros comes at a time the party, facing a general election next year, has increasingly been alleging that an international conspiracy is afoot to defame and destabilise Modi because India has under him been emerging as the “Vishwa Guru”.
A similar refrain has marked the BJP’s response so far to the BBC’s critical documentary on Modi and to US-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleging financial irregularities by the Adani group.
Till the last general election, the BJP had portrayed Modi as a target largely of “anti-national forces” within the country.
On Thursday, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Soros had said that Modi and Adani had “close ties” and that the turmoil at the industrial house could lead to a “democratic revival” in India.
Irani said: “It is to be noted that when India rose to the fifth largest economy of the world, when the President of the USA, the PM of England and the President of France publicly extended gratitude to the Indian PM and India for enabling employment not only in India but also in these three nations, such is the time when the imperialistic intentions of an entrepreneur come to light. “Today, as a citizen, I call upon every individual and organisation, societal or political, to denounce the intentions of such an individual who seeks to weaken our democratic interests. India has defeated imperialistic designs before and shall do so again.”
Irani obliquely accused the Opposition of being a beneficiary of funds provided by Soros. “You know better who (Soros) is funding; those who stand with him would be exposed,” she said.
As with Soros, the BJP and the government have gone all out to hit back at the BBC over the documentary, India: The Modi Question.
The government sought to block access to the documentary after dubbing it anti-India propaganda. The BJP described the London-based public broadcaster as the “world’s most corrupt corporation” on Tuesday as income-tax authorities started a “survey” at the BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
