Jammu and Kashmir Congress holds protests against BJP, Adani group

The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Monday protested in support of the party's demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the allegations of irregularities against the Adani group, and clashed with police at some places.

They also slammed the administration over the ongoing "arbitrary eviction" drive in the Union territory, saying it was great injustice with "landless tillers, small, marginal farmers and the common people".

In Jammu, hundreds of Congress workers, led by senior party leaders Vikar Rasool and working president Raman Bhalla, took out a rally from Shaheedi Chowk to City Chowk near the Life Insurance Corporation and SBI offices.

Raising slogans against the government, BJP, and Adnai group, they clashed with the police, with some of them trying to break the barricade to march forward.

"Today, we protested from Sansad to Sadakh (inside Parliament and outside it) over the Adani issue. We demand that a JPC be set up to probe it. We also demand a probe by a retired chief justice into it," Bhalla told reporters at the protest.

Read | Opposition turns up heat on Modi government with pan-India protests over Adani issue

Taking a dig at the BJP government for "investing" LIC and SBI money into the Adnai Group, he said, "How public money has been invested in the group. It is matter of probe."

In Srinagar, led by senior party leader Mohammad Anwar Bhat, Congress workers raised slogans in favour of the JPC probe into the allegations of fraud against the Adani Group levelled in a report by US-based short-seller Hindenburg research.

"We are protesting against the current situation of the country where the Adani-Ambani have looted the country. The LIC has invested thousands of crores in the Adani group while Jammu and Kashmir Bank also lost Rs 250 crore in it," Bhat told mediapersons inside the PCC headquarters in Srinagar.

He also alleged the eviction drive has been launched by the LG administration in Jammu and Kashmir so that the BJP-ruled Centre can give land to the Adani Group to "compensate" for its losses following the release of the Hindenburg report last month.

"We will not allow this to happen."

Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said in Jammu the issue of "investment" of public money through the LIC and SBI into the Adani Group is a matter of serious concern and the Modi government has been "evading" questions in Parliament. "So a nationwide protest is being held near SBI and LIC offices by the party."

According to the Opposition, the meltdown in Adani Group shares is a "scam that involves common people's money as public sector (units) LIC and SBI have invested in them".

The Adani Group has maintained it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

Congress leaders also said the anti-encroachment drive was "great injustice with landless tillers, small, marginal farmers and the common people".