‘Old, rich, opinionated and dangerous...’: Foreign minister Jaishankar slams George Soros. Watch

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who is known for his sharp remarks on national and international issues, on Friday (February 17) hit out at billionaire investor George Soros over his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 92-year-old American businessman hadkicked off a row with his comments linking the controversy over Gautam Adani's business empireand PM Modi. Jaishankar said Soros was "old, rich opinionated person, sitting in New York" who still thinks that his views determine how the world should work.

"Essentially, Mr Soros at the Munich conference said that India is a democratic country. But he does not think that the prime minister of India is a democrat. A few years ago, in the same conference, when I was there, he actually accused us of planning to strip millions of Muslims of citizenship. That, of course. did not happen... it was a ridiculous suggestion," Jaishankar is heard saying in a video tweeted by news agency ANI while making a reference to the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was labelled by critics as an "anti-Muslim law".

"But you have to understand what this actually means. I could take a view that the individual in question - Mr Soros - is old, rich opinionated person, sitting in New York. He still thinks that his views should determine how the world works. Now, if I could only stop at old, rich and opinionated, I would put it away.... such people actually invest resources in shaping narratives," the Foreign Minister further said.

The comment by Soros at the Munich Conference has drawn strong rebuttal from the leaders of the ruling BJP in India. Union Minister Smriti Irani termed it as a "declaration to destroy India's democratic processes".

Soros was talking about the fallout of the Hindenburg report on Gautam Adani, one of the wealthiest Asians, when he said:"Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their fate is intertwined. Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but he failed," he said. "Adani is accused of stock manipulation, and his stock collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament," he further added. The comments have given more fodder to the opposition parties in India to target the government.

(With inputs from agencies)

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