The Hindenburg Research report adversely impacting Adani Group’s market capitalisation was an attack on the Indian economy and is part of a series of such events that have eventually benefitted China, the latest issue of RSS-linked magazine Organiser has said. It has also said the revelations were a precursor to BBC’s “malicious” documentary on PM Narendra Modi. “The intent of this report was to create suspicion and cast aspersions on the credibility of Indian companies and in turn, on Indian economy, and thereby stall the fund raising opportunities and options for Indian companies,” an article written by Sumeet Mehta and Binay Kumar Singh in the magazine has said. Citing instances of how US courts have taken previous such reports by Hindenburg Research with a pinch of salt, the article said, “Notwithstanding, in India, the Hindenburg report was taken as the epitome of credibility and blatant truth by a section of media and political class. The said report was used to not only target the Adani Group companies, but short sellers in the market had a field day targeting many other renowned and reputed large companies and credible banks. In other words, it ended up taking the form of an assault on Indian markets and Indian economy simultaneously. In fact, it was a precursor to the BBC’s malicious and maligned report on PM Modi two weeks back.” The article suggested that these attacks were largely meant to benefit China and cited many past events where disruptions led to India’s north-eastern neighbour gaining greater market access. “Indian economy and companies have been subject to various kinds of repeated assaults by vested interests in India and abroad. The forms of attacks are different. Starting with environmental activists, it moved to rioters and vandals, and now finally we are seeing sophisticated financial assaults,” it said. It cited the case of protests against Sterlite’s copper smelter in Tuticorin forcing it to be closed. “This resulted in India becoming a net importer of copper in 2018-19, for the first time in 18 years, from being a net exporter of copper by exporting 3,35,000 MT of copper in 2017-18. What was the outcome? China, which held huge copper stock, was able to liquidate its stagnated inventory. Imagine the loss to India! Later it was found that the smelter was not creating any pollution. The most shocking revelation was that the whole protest against Sterlite was funded by China using a UK-based NGO named ‘Foil Vedanta’ as a front to target Indian companies and economy,” the article said. It also cited the example of the recent protests by farmers across Punjab against the farm laws as being a ploy to benefit China. “We have seen rioters masquerading as anti-farm law activists targeting Reliance JIO’s mobile towers during farmers’ protests. Reason: The Indian Government prohibited Chinese 5G vendors and preferred Reliance. So, farmers were misused and exploited to attack Reliance JIO and its operational assets in Punjab. Even an infant can conclude that the sole intent of the attacks was to stop Reliance JIO from going ahead with its 5G plans, which presented a hard competition for Chinese 5G vendors i.e. Huawei and ZTE,” the article said. It also cited protests against the Mumbai Metro shed in Aarey in a similar context. “These instances only prove that assaults on the Indian economy have now become very easy in an open and interconnected world. This is part of the fifth generation warfare wherein hostile powers use various oblique tactics to target the Indian economy,” the article said.
