Thousands of conspiracies cannot harm the truth: Amit Shah on Hindenburg report and BBC series

Responding to a question on the Adani-Hindenburg controversy, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the BJP or the government has nothing to hide or to be afraid of.

New Delhi, Feb 14: Amid attacks from the Opposition over the Adani-Hindenburg controversy, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the BJP has "nothing to hide".

In an exclusive interview to ANI, he said, "The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter. When the Supreme Court is seized of the matter, it is not right for me to comment as a minister. But there is nothing for the BJP to hide and nothing to be afraid of."

The government has come under attack from the opposition parties which have accused the BJP of favouritism and crony capitalism. They have raised questions over the investment of LIC and some public sector banks in the Adani group. However, the centre has denied all the allegations and the PSUs and regulatory bodies have also issued statements about following the norms and acting to their mandates.

Adani group is facing allegations of fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation by a US-based short-seller. However, the company has denied all the allegations as lies.

On the other hand, the Centre on Monday agreed to the Supreme Court's proposal to set up a panel of experts to look into strengthening the regulatory mechanisms for the stock market in the wake of the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.

Saying it has no objection to constituting the panel, the Centre, at the same time, stressed that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and other statutory bodies are "fully equipped", not only regime wise, but otherwise also to deal with the situation. It also wanted to be allowed to provide details such as names and the scope of the panel's mandate in a "sealed cover", PTI reported.

Talking about the Hindenburg report and BBC's controversial documentary, Shah stated that thousands of conspiracies cannot harm the truth. "Truth shines bright like the sun. They have been doing it since 2002 against PM Narendra Modi. And every time, he has emerged stronger, truthfully and by gaining more popularity among people every time," he said when asked if there is a conspiracy in the wake of the Hindenburg report and BBC documentary.

The top court on Friday said the interests of Indian investors need to be protected against market volatility in the backdrop of the Adani stocks rout and asked the Centre to consider setting up a panel of domain experts headed by a former judge to look into strengthening the regulatory mechanisms.

On asking Rahul Gandhi's allegations of crony capitalism, Shah said, "There is no question. Nobody has been able to level such allegations against the BJP till date. During their (Congress) era, agencies be it CAG or CBI, they had registered cases taking cognizance of corruption. There were scams of Rs 12 lakh-crore."

On the allegations of the BJP "capturing institutions", the Union Home Minister urged them to go to courts with the proofs while claiming that courts are not under the influence of BJP. "Court 'humare kabze mein nahi hai," he said.

"Why don't they go to court? Even at the time when the Pegasus issue was raised, I had said go to the court with proof... They only know how to create noise. Those who approached the court, the court took cognizance of Pegasus and also delivered its judgement. The investigation was also done," he added.