New Delhi, India

India’s main opposition Congress party on Friday (Nov 15) again trained its guns on the chief of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulatory body for securities and commodity market. In a clip shared on social media, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed a "cartel of corporate giants" was influencing the country’s regulatory regime meant to oversee the country’s interests.

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Rahul Gandhi is viewed as the face of the Congress party, serving as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the lower chamber of the Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha.

Recent charges against SEBI

In a direct attack on SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch, Congress claimed there were several disturbing patterns in SEBI leadership, involving certain unethical dealings to shield the interests of privileged businessmen.

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The video said that ‘the Buch scandal’ was not just about insider trading but a case of direct conflict of interests; with the regulator "entangled with the very corporations" they are supposed to oversee.

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"This isn't only about monopolies; it's about safeguarding democracy, fair competition, and the voice of every Indian against a system bent on silencing them," the video description reads.

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Also read: SEBI Chief skips parliamentary committee meeting

In the clip, Rahul Gandhi can be heard saying that the alleged scandal was not just “mere oversight but a coordinated scheme to exploit loopholes, distort regulations, and prioritize corporate profit over public interest, all while ordinary Indians pay the price.”

Gandhi also took a ‘maharaja’ swipe at the alleged close relationship that Indian billionaire Gautam Adani shares with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"What is a 'maharaja'? A maharaja is somebody who has full control of institutions, has full arbitrary power controls the legal and intelligence machinery and he does it not as a representative of the people but in his own interest," Gandhi can be heard speaking in the video, as visuals of Adani meeting Modi flashes on the screen.

Also read: Hindenburg vs Buch: How the 1998 General Pinochet case serves as a lesson for SEBI

Over the past months, the Congress party has been targeting the SEBI chief for carrying out an alleged string of illegal activities, levelling serious charges against what it has described as a "monopoly bachao syndicate" (Secure monopoly syndicate).

Congress leader Gandhi has claimed that the Indian market regulatory body was operating in nexus with the Adani group as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Congress party has also demanded the establishment of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the alleged scandal.

(With inputs from agencies)