Rahul Gandhi protests after Speaker denies second supplementary question

He had sought the list of the top 50 wilful defaulters, the funds loaned and the amount written off by banks

March 16, 2020 09:35 pm | Updated 09:44 pm IST - NEW DELHI

“The minister did not answer my question and I was quite hurt because it is the duty of the Honorable Speaker to protect my right to speak and allow me to ask a second supplementary question,” Mr. Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament House.

“The minister did not answer my question and I was quite hurt because it is the duty of the Honorable Speaker to protect my right to speak and allow me to ask a second supplementary question,” Mr. Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament House.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he was ‘hurt’ at Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to deny him an opportunity to pose a second supplementary to his question during Question Hour, wherein he had sought details of banks’ bad loans and the names of 50 wilful defaulters.

Mr. Gandhi and Congress members also staged a walkout in protest soon after Mr. Birla announced the end of the Question Hour and moved on to the next item on the day’s agenda.

Earlier, posing his first supplementary question, Mr. Gandhi said he wanted to know the list of top 50 wilful defaulters, the funds loaned and the amount written off by banks, a query to which the Finance ministry had failed to provide a satisfactory reply in its written answer.

“The Indian economy is going through a difficult period; banking system is facing difficulties, banking is failing and many more banks are going to fail,” Mr. Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha. “One of the main reasons for the failure of banks is stealing of bank money by a large number of people. The Prime Minister had said those who have stolen the money will be brought back and punished. But I have not got the answer to my simple question,” he added.

Also read | 60 listed firms disclose ₹75,000 cr. default

As soon as Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur rose to reply, Mr. Gandhi and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury protested and pointed out that since Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was present in the House, she ought to be the one replying.

Interjecting, the Speaker observed that is was normal for the junior Ministers to furnish answers during Question Hour.

In his reply, Mr. Thakur said the Congress was trying to put the blame on the NDA government for bank irregularities committed during the UPA regime.

“The list of all bank defaulters above ₹25 lakh loans is available on the website of the Central Information Commission. I have the list and if the Chair allows me, I am ready to table it in the House,” he said.

The junior Finance Minister asserted that ₹4.8 lakh crore of defaulted loans had been recovered ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assumed office, adding that a number of steps, including the enactment of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, had been taken so that the guilty could be punished.

Referring to the recent Yes Bank crisis, Mr. Thakur said the Union Finance Minister had already said banks were safe and that the money deposited in Yes Bank was also safe.

Also read | Yes Bank crisis explained

The Minister also asserted that he didn’t want to politicise the issue “by bringing up who sold paintings and to which accounts the money went”. The Congress, earlier this month, responding to an allegation by the BJP of deep links between the Gandhi family and Yes Bank’s detained founder Rana Kapoor , asserted that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had sold an M.F. Husain painting, gifted to her father, Rajiv Gandhi, at an auction. The entire auction amount had been received by Ms. Vadra in a cheque and had been fully disclosed in her income tax returns.

The Speaker promptly ended the Question Hour even as Mr. Gandhi strongly protested at being denied a second question.

“The minister did not answer my question and I was quite hurt because it is the duty of the Honorable Speaker to protect my right to speak and allow me to ask a second supplementary question,” Mr. Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament House.

Later, addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi asserted that the reason the government had not given the details was because wilful defaults had increased from ₹39,504 crore in 2014 to ₹1.21 lakh crore.

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