‘Old, rich, dangerous’: Jaishankar hits back at George Soros for remarks on PM Modi, India’s democracy

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday (January 17) came down heavily on billionaire investor George Soros for his controversial remarks on PM Narendra Modi and India's democracy. Calling Soros "old, rich, opinionated and dangerous", Jaishankar asserted that people like Soros raise question over a country’s democracy when the outcomes of the elections are not as per their choice.

“Few years ago, he actually accused us of planning to strip millions of Muslims of their citizenship, which of course didn't happen. It was a ridiculous suggestion. But you have to understand what this actually mean. I would take a view that Mr Soros is an old, rich opinionated person sitting in New York who still thinks that his views should determine how the entire world works,” Jaishankar said at an event in Australia.

“Now if I would only stop at old, rich and opinionated, I would put it away. But he is old, rich, opinionated and dangerous. Because what happens is when such people actually invest resources in shaping narratives,” he added.

George Soros sparked a massive controversy after he said at Munich Security Conference that PM Modi is not speaking anything on fraud allegations against billionaire businessman Gautam Adani. Soros said that PM Modi will have to "answer questions from foreign investors and in Parliament."

"This will significantly weaken Modi's stranglehold on India's federal government and open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms. I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India," Soros, 92, added.

Reacting to Soros's comment, Jaishankar said, “People like him think an election is good if the person they want to see, wins and if the election throws up a different outcome then they will say it is a flawed democracy and the beauty is that all this is done under the pretence of advocacy of open society.”