Congress, on Tuesday, announced a countrywide protest to be held on 22 August in support of its demand for the resignation of Securities and Exchange Birad of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch in the wake of Hindenburg Research report against her and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) over the matter.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi with the party’s general xsecretaries, in-charges and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents at the party headquarters here.

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Last week, the US-based short seller, Hindenburg Research, alleged that “Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had stakes in obscure offshore entities used in the Adani money siphoning scandal”. The couple dismissed the Hindenburg report.

The meeting also discussed several issues including caste census and alleged targeted attack on religious minorities in Bangladesh.

In a post on X after the meeting, the Congress chief wrote, “We convened a meeting of AICC General Secretaries, in-charges and Pradesh Congress Committee presidents to discuss organisational matters and various issues of national importance for election preparedness.”

Referring to the Hindenburg Research report, he said, “The shocking revelations of nexus between SEBI and Adani needs to a thorough investigation. The money of small investors in the stock market can’t be jeopardised. Modi government must immediately seek the resignation of SEBI chairperson and constitute a JPC in this regard.”

Stating that the issues of “unbridled” unemployment and uncontrolled inflation and depletion of household savings are the focus of his party, the Congress chief said, “The poor and middle class have been betrayed. The attack on the Constitution continues unabated. Caste census is the demand of the people. The Congress party would continue its fight in demanding legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for our farmers.”

Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha further said, “The Agnipath Scheme imposed on our patriotic youth must be scrapped. Train derailments have become a norm, as crores of passengers suffer. Climate related disasters and collapsing infrastructure is also a cause of concern.
We would design a national campaign around these issues and go to the people.”

Addressing a press conference, Congress general secretary in-charge of Organisation KC Venugopal while apprising about the meeting said, “Today we discussed about one of the biggest scam is happening in the country nowadays i.e Hindenburg revelations, the scam related to Adani and SEBI. We unanimously decided to have a nationwide agitation demanding two things. One is a JPC inquiry on Adani mega scam on which the Prime Minister is fully involved and in which the financial market regulation has now been found to have been severely compromised.”

“There will be a massive national-level agitation on 22nd of August through out the country. In each state capital, we will ghearo the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office. Thousands of Congress workers will gherao the ED office demanding SEBI chairperson has to be removed from that position. The person who has no credibility at all , can not continue as a SEBI chairperson. There should a JPC inquiry on this mega scam,” he said.

Besides the Hindenburg Research report, the meeting also passed a resolution reiterating its demand to conduct caste census by the government and ” full and genuine respect to the Constitution of India in letter and spirit, particularly its provisions on economic, social and political justice”.

The party’s resolution also called upon the Centre to take all possible steps to ensure that “targeted attacks on religious minorities and their places of worship in Bangladesh are stopped and to ensure that they are enabled to lead a life of security, dignity and harmony”.

The meeting also expressed its deepest distress at the devastating landslide tragedy in Wayanad and expressed its condolence. It re-emphasised the demand made by Gandhi for declaring this as a national disaster.