George Soros: the man who called Modi a 'great enemy' of free society
His comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Davos have stirred a hornet’s nest in India. But who is George Soros? Read on and find out.
George Soros, a Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist was born in Budapest in 1930, and moved to the United Kingdom in 1947.
From 1969 onwards, he set up a series of hedge funds that gained him immense wealth.
He is worth over $8 billion and has donated over $32 billion to his philanthropic agency, the Open Society Foundations.
Soros developed the ‘Theory of Reflexivity’ that states that markets are often driven by the ideas of the participants and not just by economic fundamentals.
Soros is a well-known supported of liberal and progressive political causes.
He is also known as the ‘Man who broke the Bank of England’ for his short sale of $10 billion dollars worth of pound sterlings, in 1992.
During the 2003–2004 US election cycle, Soros donated over $23 million to 527 groups with an aim to defeat President George W Bush.
He subsequently also donated huge amounts towards the Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton election campaigns.
He has been accused, and once convicted, of insider trading.
Conservatives have often claimed that Soros is the singularly dangerous ‘puppet master’ behind several alleged global plots.
Soros has been married three times and divorced twice.
There are also reports that Soros, himself Jewish, has anti-Semitic leanings.
This is what he said about PM Narendra Modi: ‘A democratically elected Narendra Modi is creating a Hindu nationalist state, imposing punitive measures on Kashmir, a semi-autonomous Muslim region, and threatening to deprive millions of Muslims of their citizenship.’
This is what he has said about Donald Trump: ‘President Trump is a con man and the ultimate narcissist who wants the world to revolve around him.’