New Delhi: The government has not had an easy Winter Session so far, and it has some tough questions to answer in the days ahead. But defeating an adjournment motion on black money moved by BJP senior LK Advani would have been a morale booster. The motion was defeated after a two-hour debate by voice vote.
A three-line Congress whip for all MPs to be in House during the debate ensured that the nays had it in the Lok Sabha, where Finance Minister emphatically rejected Mr Advani's demand that information received from foreign countries with regard to Indian account holders abroad be made public, saying that would violate the understanding with a sovereign government and could hurt the Indian businesses as some of them could be genuine investors abroad.
Mr Mukherjee also said that India has been getting get information about bank accounts of its citizens in Switzerland from April, 2011 and that it was currently not possible to get 'retrospective' information. Mr Mukherjee added no Member of Parliament figures in the list of account holders abroad that he had received.
Mr Advani, who initiated the debate, demanded that for crores of untaxed money stored in foreign bank accounts be brought back to India. He accused the government of "being soft" on the issue of black or undeclared money, and said the government owes it to the country to reveal the names of 782 alleged tax evaders. "Will we have to rely on Julian Assange to reveal the names of Indians who have black money in foreign accounts?" asked Mr Advani during a lengthy speech in Parliament.
"It will be humiliating for us if WikiLeaks discloses these details," Mr Advani said. 25 lakh crores is stashed in Swiss accounts, Mr Advani alleged. "Share all these facts with Parliament, Mr PM and Mr Finance Minister, " he urged.
The Finance Minister, in his reply, said it was more important to get back black money than reveal the names of those who had accounts in foreign banks. He said the government has received 36,000 pieces of information, "If I publish it, same country will say you violated the agreement and we will not share information in future...We will dry up our source of information."
Rejecting the Opposition charge of "inaction" or "lagging behind", he said the government would prefer to go after those having illegal accounts abroad rather than publicising details
as the account holders could even withdraw money. "Should I publicise or go and seize it... How is intelligence collected? There is an element of surprise," he said.
The BJP has been asking for crores worth of untaxed money stored in foreign bank accounts to be brought back to India. Mr Advani accused the government of "being soft" on the issue of black or undeclared money.
The government has countered in recent months that tax and banking treaties place several conditions on when and what sort of details can be revealed about accounts abroad.
"Black money is the result of the economic models and laws we followed," said the Congress' Manish Tewari, in response to Mr Advani's statement. He said the BJP is being dishonest by blaming the UPA for the problem.
The BJP has made black money a major issue since the last Lok Sabha elections, and it topped the agenda of Mr Advani's recent countrywide tough against corruption which ended in Delhi in November. Pointing out that the matter was "close to the political system", he had demanded a white paper on what the government was doing to bring back the black money in foreign bank accounts. Soon after the yatra ended, the BJP veteran had said that the focus of Parliament's Winter Session would be the black money parked in Swiss accounts.
Politically, accepting today's adjournment motion and debate was a neat gambit from a government that has been accused by the Opposition of ducking discussion and vote on important issues. It managed to address that criticism by agreeing to debate this issue and swiftly defeated it on the floor of the House.
A three-line Congress whip for all MPs to be in House during the debate ensured that the nays had it in the Lok Sabha, where Finance Minister emphatically rejected Mr Advani's demand that information received from foreign countries with regard to Indian account holders abroad be made public, saying that would violate the understanding with a sovereign government and could hurt the Indian businesses as some of them could be genuine investors abroad.
Mr Mukherjee also said that India has been getting get information about bank accounts of its citizens in Switzerland from April, 2011 and that it was currently not possible to get 'retrospective' information. Mr Mukherjee added no Member of Parliament figures in the list of account holders abroad that he had received.
Mr Advani, who initiated the debate, demanded that for crores of untaxed money stored in foreign bank accounts be brought back to India. He accused the government of "being soft" on the issue of black or undeclared money, and said the government owes it to the country to reveal the names of 782 alleged tax evaders. "Will we have to rely on Julian Assange to reveal the names of Indians who have black money in foreign accounts?" asked Mr Advani during a lengthy speech in Parliament.
"It will be humiliating for us if WikiLeaks discloses these details," Mr Advani said. 25 lakh crores is stashed in Swiss accounts, Mr Advani alleged. "Share all these facts with Parliament, Mr PM and Mr Finance Minister, " he urged.
The Finance Minister, in his reply, said it was more important to get back black money than reveal the names of those who had accounts in foreign banks. He said the government has received 36,000 pieces of information, "If I publish it, same country will say you violated the agreement and we will not share information in future...We will dry up our source of information."
Rejecting the Opposition charge of "inaction" or "lagging behind", he said the government would prefer to go after those having illegal accounts abroad rather than publicising details
as the account holders could even withdraw money. "Should I publicise or go and seize it... How is intelligence collected? There is an element of surprise," he said.
The BJP has been asking for crores worth of untaxed money stored in foreign bank accounts to be brought back to India. Mr Advani accused the government of "being soft" on the issue of black or undeclared money.
The government has countered in recent months that tax and banking treaties place several conditions on when and what sort of details can be revealed about accounts abroad.
"Black money is the result of the economic models and laws we followed," said the Congress' Manish Tewari, in response to Mr Advani's statement. He said the BJP is being dishonest by blaming the UPA for the problem.
The BJP has made black money a major issue since the last Lok Sabha elections, and it topped the agenda of Mr Advani's recent countrywide tough against corruption which ended in Delhi in November. Pointing out that the matter was "close to the political system", he had demanded a white paper on what the government was doing to bring back the black money in foreign bank accounts. Soon after the yatra ended, the BJP veteran had said that the focus of Parliament's Winter Session would be the black money parked in Swiss accounts.
Politically, accepting today's adjournment motion and debate was a neat gambit from a government that has been accused by the Opposition of ducking discussion and vote on important issues. It managed to address that criticism by agreeing to debate this issue and swiftly defeated it on the floor of the House.
No comments:
Post a Comment