Rahul Gandhi accuses Modi, Shah of exit polls scam worth Rs 30 lakh crore

Even before the BJP-led government at the centre can take oath, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on former (and potential) prime minister Narendra Modi and his former home minister Amit Shah on Thursday, 6 June — over the stock market crash on counting day, with results at odds with the exit polls.

Addressing the media at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi highlighted suspicious stock market activity linked to the recent Lok Sabha elections.

He accused Modi and Shah of being "directly involved" in the "biggest stock market scam", which resulted in retail investors losing Rs 30 lakh crore.

Implying that the exit polls were designed — at the instigation of Modi and Shah — precisely to create a bullish run in the market, Gandhi demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the alleged scandal.

Gandhi also alleged that the BJP's top leaders had given investment advice that led to market manipulation and significant financial instability.

He emphasised that their actions directly contributed to the economic turmoil and called for a thorough investigation by the JPC to uncover the full extent of the wrongdoing and ensure accountability.

"For the first time, we noted that during the elections, the prime minister, the union home minister and the finance minister commented on the stock market," said Gandhi.

He pointed out that the markets surged following the "fake exit polls", only to crash dramatically on 4 June, the day the votes were counted.

Gandhi suggested that these polls may have been orchestrated to inflate the market artificially.

Rahul Gandhi also put forth the following questions on stock market transactions that took place on 30–31 May (the eve and the day of the exit polls):

1. Why did erstwhile prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah give investment advice to 5 crore families on television? Is it their job to give investment advice?

2. Why were these things said in interviews given to the same media house, owned by the same business group, which is also under SEBI investigation for manipulating the stock market?

3. What is the connection between the BJP, the fake pollsters and the dubious foreign investors who invested just one day before the exit polls were announced [30 May] and made a huge profit at the cost of 5 crore families?

"We demand a JPC into this. We are absolutely convinced that this is a scam," Gandhi concluded.

The official Congress party handle on X, the social media platform, has also shared a post suggesting that the whole imbroglio is connected to the "Adani issue" but is at the same time much "broader".