Swaraj Abhiyan members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan hit out at the BJP government and said the Centre was not serious about actually curbing black money. They said the anti-black money day observed on Wednesday, the anniversary of demonetisation, was a “cruel joke”.
Mr. Yadav said that despite exposés such as the Panama Papers over a year ago, and the Paradise Papers a few days ago, the government has taken no action against the names on the list.
“The attitude of the government towards black money and the issue of corruption is like a cruel joke. They have all the proof against these big names that have appeared in these lists but they have only deferred action claiming that investigations will be carried out. But nothing has happened,” he said.
‘Covering up scams’
Mr. Yadav said the Narendra Modi government rode on the anti-corruption wave, but “it seems like this government is more interested in covering up scams and black money instead of bringing it back to the system and taking action against the culprits”.
Presenting documents, Mr. Bhushan alleged that the government failed to act on documented cases of black money involving big companies and industrialists.
“There is a set pattern by now. Instead of taking proactive and concrete action, the government reacts only to these leaks that come out from time to time. Whether it is the leaks about the account in the Liechtenstein banks, HSBC bank or the Panama and Paradise papers, the government defends its own people and says that it has set up some task force or the other to divert the public’s attention from the case,” Mr. Bhushan said.
‘Govt propaganda’
People assume that since a probe has been set up some action will come out of it, but soon it is washed out of their memories, he said. Swaraj Abhiyan members also alleged that demonetisation is only propaganda by the government to distract people.
“The government would have been able to recover more than ₹16,000 crore that Mr. Modi promised to get back into the system, if only they had taken action against the documented money laundering allegations against these big names,” Mr. Bhushan said.
SIT recommendations
They demanded that instead of celebrating the Anti Black Money day on Wednesday, they should reveal the recommendations made by the special investigation teams (SITs) that were set up in all of these cases and also tell people about the action taken based on the reports.
They also asked the government to disclose the details of the money deposited and exchanged by political parties and politicians during the demonetisation period.
