‘Hit job on Adani was Chinese vengeance’: BJP leader’s claim over Hindenburg row

Senior lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mahesh Jethmalani has alleged that the Hindenburg Research report against billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate was a “hit job” by China, seeking “vengeance” for losing out on contracts for developmental projects.

Mahesh Jethmalani further urged the central government to launch a probe into the matter, investigating the links of political voices with China.

“Now that there’s an established Chinese hand behind the Hindenburg hatchet job on the Adani group it behoves the GOI to probe the linkages between the loudest political voices that pre and post the publication of the Hindenburg report savaged the government for its ‘crony capitalism,” Jethmalani said.

“The hit job on the Adani group was Chinese vengeance for losing out on strategic mining and infrastructure project bids, one of the most crucial of which was the bid for the Israeli port of Haifa,” the top lawyer alleged.

He said many Indian politicians seemed “aggrieved” by the success of the Adani Haifa port, and accused them of support a “hostile nation” by their actions.

“Shockingly some Indian politicians seemed deeply aggrieved by Adanis Haifa port success- a strategic acquisition key to the viability of IMEC- an economic corridor of India, the Middle East and Europe meant to compete with and improve upon China’s BRI-Belt and Road Initiative. This wilful support for a hostile nations debt trap initiative at the cost of the IMEC initiative cannot but lead to a strong inference that a part of our political class is bent upon aligning itself with Chinese strategic interests,” Jethmalani said.

“Add to this the colossal loss to retail investors by an influential and wealthy Chinese American mired in espionage controversy for the Chinese State in the US and the case for an investigation into Chinas flag bearers in India is compelling,” he further added on his social media platform X.

Last year in January, Hindenburg Research published a report against Adani Group, accusing the company of financial irregularities and stock market manipulation. This led to a major drop in the company’s stock price and Gautam Adani saw his net worth plunge $24.9 billion in a day.

Adani Group, however, remained firm on its stance that it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.