MUMBAI: Jyoti Mehta, widow of Harshad Shantilal Mehta, has claimed in a website launched to defend her late husband that the stockbroker was summoned for a meeting with the then PM Narasimha Rao on November 4, 1991, to ostensibly “boost” the markets and that he would have the “blessings” of the government in doing so.
Harshad, she claimed, was accompanied by his younger brother Ashwin Mehta, Sunil Mittal, founder of Bharti Enterprises, and his father Satpal Mittal. “In the said meeting, the Hon’ble Prime Minister conveyed that the foreign currency situation of the country was alarming as there were reserves of only about 7 days and if they were not shored up the country could default and become a ‘banana republic,’ which would jeopardize the plans of the government to turnaround the situation.”
The late Prime Minister, she said, wanted to dispel the environment of “gloom” and “revive” the animal spirits and build up confidence in the economy by “boosting the stock markets” since it was widely considered to be a barometer of the economy. “My husband was asked to boost the markets and a promise was made to him that he will have the blessings of the government in doing so. Harshad was called upon to serve the country at a most critical juncture and suggestions were also sought from him on the role that the stock market could play in providing the capital and boosting industrial growth.”
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