A speech by George Soros at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani has caused a huge uproar in the BJP.
Why would a two-minute comment said by the 92-year-old George Soros cause such anger in the ruling party?
What did Soros Say?
George Soros said, “India is an interesting case. It’s a democracy, but its leader Narendra Modi is no democrat. Inciting violence against Muslims was an important factor in his meteoric rise”.
Further, referring to the recent Adani episode as a result of the Hindenburg Research report, Soros said, “Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their fate is intertwined. Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but it failed. 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”.
He further maintained that “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 naïve, but I expect a democratic revival in India”.
Did the BJP Overreact?
While responding to Mr. Soros’ recent comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian reforms, Union Minister Smriti Irani repeated the same allegations “The man who broke a bank in England, an economic offender, has said that he desires to break the Indian democracy,” Ms. Irani said in New Delhi last week. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also called the 92-year-old hedge fund tycoon “old, rich, opinionated, and dangerous”.
These comments spurned angry reactions from many leaders in India and Sanjay Jha, from the Congress reacted by saying to Jaishankar, “Dear Mr. Jaishankar: Shame on you for mocking someone as “ old”. That’s age-discriminatory. It’s disgusting.
Your august office could do with some decorum and decency. But too much to expect from a man who justified “ Ab ki Baar, Trump Sarkar” from his boss.”
The Munich Security Conference (MSC) is an annual forum for world leaders to discuss global security issues. The conference has become one of the most important international events for discussing security policy bringing together global political and business leaders, defense experts, and academics to discuss the current security issues, ranging from terrorism and nuclear proliferation to emerging threats such as cyberattacks and climate change. Soros was invited to speak on the sidelines of the MSC. Soros generally spoke about the global political situation and repressive regimes.
He talked about climate change, the Russia-Ukraine war, US politics, the Turkey disaster, and failures in China. He also made a brief, two-minute, reference to India, Modi, and Adani, which has caused a huge uproar in the BJP.
Because of his pro-democratic roots
In the US, he is a major donor to the Democratic Party and supports progressive causes. Having suffered atrocities under Hitler’s autocratic regime in his childhood, he is a strong critic of all authoritarian regimes. That has made him a target of right-wing groups and media outlets.
While Soros has been critical of Prime Minister Modi in the past as well, he has also supported some of Modi’s initiatives, such as the Digital India program and the Swachh Bharat Mission. But his comments about Modi in his short speech sparked reactions from the BJP ranks.
The Republicans of America claim that every riot that occurs either in the USA or around the world is attributed to George Soros. Of course, none of them can prove their claims but as billionaire George Soros is anti-autocratic regimes, the theory that he funds riots has mushroomed around in political right-wing circles.
There is a fear of Soros
Soros is known as “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” because of his short sale of US$10 billion worth of pounds sterling, which made him a profit of $1 billion during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis.[17
‘My power is greatly overestimated,” Hungarian American billionaire investor George Soros told the BBC in an interview a few years ago, talking about allegations that he “broke the Bank of England” during the pound crisis in 1992. “I really did not break the Bank of England,” he said. “It was the market that broke it, I was just leading the charge.”
Soros is a supporter of progressive and liberal political causes
A highly influential billionaire’s comments cannot be taken lightly. He dispenses donations through his foundation, the Open Society Foundations. Between 1979 and 2011, he donated more than $11 billion to various philanthropic causes; by 2017, his donations “on civil initiatives to reduce poverty and increase transparency, and on scholarships and universities around the world” totaled $12 billion.
Soros was behind the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s
He influenced the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s and provided one of Europe’s largest higher education endowments to the Central European University in his Hungarian hometown.
George Soros spoke up for Indian Muslims
It is interesting that George Soros chooses to speak up for the Indian Muslims because he being of Jewish descent is a supporter of Israel against Palestine, however, it may be his ultimate call for democracy in countries like India, which though named democratic is weakening by being bound by autocratic chains. No agencies can freely question the government without a great hitback. The criticism of the BJP’s government’s treatment of Indian Muslims comes at the heels of the BBC 2002 Gujarat Riots which is already enraging the BJP.
George Soros openly named the Modi-Adani nexus
Professor Ashok Swain said, “George Soros exposes the Modi-Adani nexus, and that has made India’s Hindu nationalists mad.” It is not often that a tall leader from another nation does that and George Soros did it, infuriating the BJP, further.
George Soros exposes Modi-Adani nexus, and that has made India’s Hindu nationalists mad. pic.twitter.com/rqdLGVHi8u
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) February 18, 2023
Fake news about Alt News and Soros flew out from right-wing news platforms
Mohammed Zubair said, “So @vineetjaintimes’s @TimesNow & it’s News Presenter
@RShivshankar has linked George Soros to Me & @AltNews. Someone tell him, Alt News has never received any funding from IFCN in any form. Plus, @AltNews
has not been a signatory since 2020. At least pretend to research a little.
So @vineetjaintimes's @TimesNow & it's News Presenter @RShivshankar has linked George Soros to Me & @AltNews. Someone tell him, Alt News has never received any funding from IFCN in any form. Plus, @AltNews has not been a signatory since 2020. Atleast pretend to research a little. pic.twitter.com/UfX7AVVLNT
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) February 19, 2023
Zubair slammed OpIndia for propagating fake news that George Soros-linked organization wanted Alt News’ Mohammed Zubair to win Nobel Peace Prize. Opindia: Zubair did not even make it to the shortlist by Soros-funded NGO for Nobel Peace Prize.
It seemed evident that OpIndia was determined to loop in Zubair with George Soros in a desperate attempt to make the 2-minute speech look like an ‘international conspiracy”!
Opindia: Zubair did not even make it to the shortlist by Soros-funded NGO for Nobel Peace Prize
Also Opindia: George Soros linked organisation wanted Alt News' Mohammed Zubair to win Nobel Peace Prize. pic.twitter.com/3I1hfpq6fd
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) February 21, 2023
Who is George Soros?
George Soros HonFBA is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. Soros does philanthropic work through his Open Society Foundation, which has given billions of dollars to support human rights and democratic governance to civil society organisations, education initiatives, and public health programs in over 100 countries.
As of March 2021, he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations, of which $15 billion has already been distributed, representing 64% of his original fortune.
With all the backlash, Soros remains a huge force in global finance, philanthropy, and politics and his voice is heard with respect.
His extensive funding of political causes has made him a “bugaboo of European nationalists”. The New York Times reported in October 2018 that “conspiracy theories about him have gone mainstream, to nearly every corner of the Republican Party”.
Numerous American conservatives have promoted false claims that characterize Soros as a singularly dangerous “puppet master” behind many alleged global plots. Conspiracy theories targeting Soros, who is of Jewish descent, have often been described as antisemitic.
Conclusion:
Soros has particularly referred to crony capitalism, which Indians are already speaking about it. This reality has literally enlarged hard capitalism. As a nation, one must take the billionaire philanthropist’s financial insights more seriously.
There is an urgent need for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to talk in Parliament and answer questions and also the foreign investors. He has implied poor corporate governance and a weak regulatory ecosystem in India.
The failure of the Adani group to take any defamatory action against Hindenburg Research or the hasty withdrawal of the Adani FPO, has given further credence to Hindenburg’s accusations.
Serious regulatory weakness in any financial system can always be attacked — as Soros himself did in Britain in 1992 or as Hindenburg did recently. In fact, SEBI or MCA should order a forensic audit of the Adani Group to calm the markets and assure foreign investors.
Soros would not make any rash comments just to trigger tempers but was actually signaling an important message that the Modi government was throwing things under the carpet. India is indeed in a financial mess, something that the government is not even willing to admit as implied by the finance minister’s comments. Members of the BJP party flew out in a rage because a critical comment of the Modi government was made by an important international figure, instead of trying to solve the problem and dealing with the issue.
Yes, BJP, did overreact, they could have assessed the problems calmly because George Soros did not say anything new, he was just reflecting back on what is already being thundered around by a large number of leaders and citizens in India.