Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to demonetise high-value currency notes formed part of his plan to execute a “gigantic scam” of Rs. 8 lakh crore by waiving off loans of industrialists enjoying proximity with him.
Addressing a huge public rally at Ramlila Ground here, Mr. Kejirwal said Mr. Modi had resorted to demonetisation to facilitate the write-off of bad debts amounting to Rs. 1.14 lakh crore, extending the benefit to his industrialist friends, while common people were forced to stand in queues outside banks and ATMs.
Mr. Kejriwal, who is also national convenor of the AAAP, took exception to the audit exemption given to political parties on depositing old currency notes. BJP and Congress were receiving 70 to 80 per cent of donations in cash, while AAP got only eight percent of such donations, he said.
“Before asking the people to adopt cashless economy, Mr. Modi and his party colleagues should refuse to accept donations in cash,” said Mr. Kejriwal, while demanding a probe into how the political leaders had acquired huge assets.
Backs graft charges
Mr. Kejriwal, who is searching a new political landscape in Rajasthan, accused the NDA government at the Centre of allowing liquor baron Vijay Mallya to fly abroad and waiving off his loans worth Rs.1,200 crore.
Supporting the charges of corruption against Mr. Modi during his tenure as the Gujarat Chief Minister, the AAP leader said the documents obtained in the Income Tax Department's raids had revealed that Birlas and Saharas had paid crores of rupees. However, the probe was kept pending, he added.
“If the Modi government is serious about checking corruption, it should order audit of each political party’s bank and cash accounts for the last five years’ duration. The government should also arrest 648 citizens who have their accounts in Swiss banks,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
The Delhi Chief Minister affirmed that demonetisation had adversely affected the business of small traders and shopkeepers and brought the farmers to the verge of complete destruction. “I have studied [this] demonetisation concept and reached the conclusion that it has failed to eliminate corruption and black money from the system,” he said.
