Rahul accuses govt of making rich richer, questions its silence on F&O manipulation

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of making the rich richer and pushing ordinary investors to the brink of ruin by being silent on “manipulation” by big players in the futures and options (F&O) market.

Gandhi, in a post on X, said he had predicted the loopholes in the F&O market.

“I clearly stated in 2024 -- the F&O market has become a playground for ‘big players,’ and small investors’ pockets are continuously being drained.

“Now SEBI itself is admitting that Jane Street (Group) manipulated thousands of crores. Why did SEBI remain silent for so long?” he asked in his post in Hindi.

The Congress leader accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre of turning a blind eye to the revelation and wondered if there were more players rigging the market.

“At whose behest was the Modi government sitting with its eyes shut? And how many more big sharks are still shorting retail investors?” he said.

“In every case, it is clear -- the Modi government is making the rich richer and pushing ordinary investors to the brink of ruin,” he alleged.

Gandhi tagged his September 24, 2024, post in which he had stated, “Uncontrolled F&O trading has grown 45x in five years. Ninety per cent of small investors have lost Rs 1.8 lakh crore in three years.”

It went on: “SEBI must reveal the names of the so-called ‘Big Players’ making a killing at their expense.”

The Congress’ head of media and publicity department, Pawan Khera, also joined in on the issue with Gandhi alleging that the market watchdog has ignored alleged corruption in the market and said SEBI has to answer a lot of questions.

“This is the tip of the iceberg of corruption our market watchdogs have ignored so far. SEBI and its former chairperson Madhavi Puri Buch have a lot of questions to answer,” Khera said in a post on X while tagging Gandhi’s post.

Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday said the capital markets regulator does not see “many other risks” like the manipulations done by the hedge fund Jane Street.

In an order released in the early hours of Friday, the market regulator found Jane Street, a New York-based hedge fund, guilty of manipulating the indices by taking bets in the cash, and futures and options markets simultaneously for making handsome gains.