NEW DELHI: George Soros is trying to invest resources in shaping false narratives, said External Affairs Minister, Dr Jaishankar, at an event in Australia on Saturday. His remark was a reaction to the 92-year-old billionaire American investor, Soros accusing Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,of being Adani’s ally while speaking at the Munich Security Conference(MSC) on February 17th. “Soros is an old, rich, opinionated person sitting in New York who still thinks that his views should determine how the entire world works. He is also dangerous. Because when such people actually invest resources in shaping narratives,’’ Dr Jaishankar said.Dr Jaishankar also said that when we talk of globalisation, the seamlessness of globalisation also allows narratives to be shaped, money to come in, foundations to go about their agenda.
“In this case it is clear there is very strong political preferences that this person has,’’ Dr Jaishankar added. The external affairs minister recalled Soros’ earlier remarks on the Citizenship Amendment Act, made a few years ago. “We know the dangers of what happens when there’s outside interference ‘ if you do this kind of scaremongering, like millions of people will be deprived of citizenship, it actually does real damage to our societal fabric,” he said.
“There are other manifestations of this in different countries, where people like him think an election is good if the person we want to see wins. If the election throws up a different outcome, then we actually will say it’s a flawed democracy,” he said. Jaishankar said globalisation 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 an open society of transparency.”
The 92-year-old hedge fund tycoon, who has been associated with supporting liberal causes, on Thursday sent shockwaves in the Indian political scene saying Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fates are entwined, and alleged that Modi was not a “democrat”.
“Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but he 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 said. The Adani Group has been under severe pressure since the US short-seller Hindenburg Research on January 24 accused it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation, allegations that the conglomerate has denied as “malicious”, “baseless”, and a “calculated attack on India.”
MSC is an annual conference on global security issues that witnesses the coming together of senior politicians and military leaders. Amongst those attending it this year are US Vice President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
With inputs from PTI