Has Rahul Gandhi Got 'Contract' of Hindenburg's Closed Shop, Asks BJP

New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, asking him if he has now got the "contract" to run Hindenburg's "shop" which it said "works in sync" with the Congress to destabilise India.

"Rahul Gandhi is in the complete grip of urban naxals' thinking process... Now that Hindenburg is closing its shop, have you Rahul Gandhi got the contract for it," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters.

His attack came a day after Gandhi kicked up a row by declaring the Congress was now fighting the RSS, the BJP and the Indian State itself. The comments were used by the BJP to excoriate Gandhi, and the attacks continued on Thursday when Hindenburg's founder announced his decision to shut down the short-selling stock research firm.

Its reports against the Adani Group and market regulator SEBI last year ignited political firestorms in India, and the Congress had repeatedly cited it to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Thursday, the Congress said Hindenburg's shutting down does not absolve either Adani or the Modi government. In turn, the BJP said this only underscores the "deepening relationship" between the company and the main opposition party.

Adani has denied the short-selling firm's charge of business malpractice.

Prasad, a former Union minister, alleged that Hindenburg and the Congress used to work in sync for a designed agenda to destabilise India.

Noting that the announcement of disbanding Hindenburg was made as the Congress unveiled its new office, he took repeated digs at Gandhi and said the Indian State represents the constitutional identity of India as a free country.

He said Hindenburg repeatedly worked against the Indian State by releasing reports days before Parliament's sessions, and the Congress would use them to create political controversies.

Prasad claimed that the definition of Indian State includes the President, Vice President, Parliament, state assemblies and also Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha besides the media.

Prasad lauded the RSS as a nationalist organisation which, he said, has been working for the society and for spreading patriotism. He asked Gandhi to reflect on where his party has reached and what heights the RSS and BJP have attained.

Gandhi has become the Leader of Opposition but he does not think before speaking, the BJP leader said, and asked him to change his "tutor".

Prasad said it seems the "shop" of US-based billionaire investor George Soros is also going to either close down or weaken with the new administration under President-elect Donald Trump set to take over. Soros, he said, funds Hindenburg.

The announcement by Hindenburg's founder Nate Anderson came just days before Donald Trump is inaugurated as the new President of the United States on January 20.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new building of the Congress party's headquarters on Wednesday, Gandhi had said the BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of our country.

He added, "We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself." Hitting back, BJP president J P Nadda had alleged that everything the Congress leader does or says is in the direction of breaking India and dividing the society.