In a stepped up counter-attack laced with counter-queries, the Government and the BJP on Wednesday asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi why he did not name the beneficiaries of several scams that happened during the UPA Government and also sought to know why the erstwhile Congress Government did not notify and slept over the benami property law that it itself brought before Parliament in 1988.
Responding to Rahul’s criticism of demonetisation, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu asked the Congress whether it thought that there was no need to act against black money.
Asking a flurry of questions, Naidu sought to know if the Congress thought black money and corruption was in the system. He questioned, “Why did Congress Governments not take effective measures against them and did not act on the Supreme Court’s directive for setting up SIT on black moneyIJ”
Pointing to the disunity in the Opposition ranks, the Central Minister wondered why some major Opposition parties were refusing to join hands with Congress in its anti-note withdrawal campaign.
He said since Congress was on Wednesday celebrating its Foundation Day, it was right for the party “to introspect on its contribution to the ills that are afflicting our country, 69 years after Independence of our country”.
“Rahul Gandhi by his smile and body language today clearly indicated that there is not much of black money in the country. I would like Rahul to muster courage and openly say so if his party’s assessment is that there is not much of black money in our economy. If that is so, he also should state if this assessment is supported by any economist or expert in the matter,” Naidu said.
Naidu said, in contrast, his Government believes in transparency and accordingly making public of information about the withdrawn high value currency notes reaching the banking system.
Countering Rahul’s demand for making public the names of black money hoarders abroad, the BJP asked him to first name the beneficiaries of several scams that happened during the Congress-led-UPA Government before repeating “lies” against the BJP dispensation, thinking simplistically that they will be taken as truth “if repeated daily and loudly.”
“Rahul has been asking a lot of questions and levelling baseless allegations repeatedly under this impressions that his lies will be taken as truth if spoken daily and loudly. He should also answer who in the UPA Government were beneficiaries of 2G, CWG and VVIP chopper scams running into Rs1.86 lakh crore, Rs72,000 crore and Rs3,200 crore respectively,” BJP’s National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said. The AgustaWestland probe has already reached the Congress “first family’s doorstep”, he said adding “This has made Rahul jittery”.
Sharma said the UPA Government had the names of people with suspect Swiss bank accounts from 2011 but it took no action and did not constitute an Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The BJP alleged that the Congress leader remained silent and “did nothing” all through the series of corruptions which had over taken the UPA rule at the Centre.
Sharma accused the Congress vice president of also doing “politics over death”, a reference to his criticism of demonetisation by pointing to deaths of people in queues outside banks and ATMs. He said an average 695 farmers ended their lives daily during the UPA Government while the Modi Government has taken a number of measures to protect them, he said.
“Deaths are always unfortunate and we have sympathies with the families,” he said about deaths allegedly linked to demonetisation. “Unlike Congress, we don't do politics over it.”