November 26, 2014
Govt must make the names of black money account holders public: Sudip Banerjee in LS
Leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, today criticised the BJP for failing on its promise to bring back black money to India.
Replying to a few comments made by members of the BJP, he said, “Mamata Banerjee is more popular in Bengal than Mr Modi is in Gujarat.”
“The Prime Minister is either on foreign trips or campaigning for election rallies. The PM should apologise to the Nation for making false promises,” he said.
Mr Badyopadhyay added, “The Govt said they will bring back black money in 100 days. The Govt has completed 180 days in power. We demand that the PM make public the names of account holders of black money.”
“Major Opposition parties came together and protested unitedly. We demanded this issue to be raised in the House,” Sudip Banerjee said. He added that If the government is serious about black money, the party will wholeheartedly support the initiative.
Full transcript of his speech:
Sir, it pained me much and I was deeply disappointed after hearing the ruling party's main speaker which gave the indication that they are not actually interested to go into the details of the subject of the debate.
The question is very simple. The Prime Minister said, “We will bring back Black Money back to India. If we bring back Black Money each citizen can get Rs 15 to 20 lakhs each” during the pre-poll rallies in 2014. How many times did he say this at different rallies? Record says 152 times. The same speech has been delivered throughout the country to impress the young generation. The youth – of the age group of 20 to 25 years – according to my assessment, were thoroughly impressed and they voted for Modi.
He got the votes and came to the power up to this level. If he is for bringing back the Black Money, we, the Opposition here, will support any rule, any act you want to make in floor of the House.
Sir, I want to mention very categorically what our demands are. This is a very serious national issue. We have seen most of the major Opposition political parties came together and we protested unitedly so that this issue is discussed with all priority. And it took 48 hours to initiate discussion in Lok Sabha. We have some positive demand.
(i) Let Modi ji put all the names of those who have their Black Money abroad in the public domain immediately.
(ii) Let Modi ji fulfill the promise to bring back Black Money within 100 days. We are prepared to extend our full support without any hesitation.
(iii) Deposit Rs 15 to 20 lakh which he committed to the bank accounts everywhere throughout the country.
(iv) The government has completed 180 days in power. That means 80 days over and above the deadline have passed.
Modi ji is an NRI Prime Minister. He has gone abroad eight times in six months. This debate could have taken place on the first day itself, Modi ji after his speech on the floor of the House could have flown to Jharkhand and then to Nepal. So, the Prime Minister must issue an apology on the floor of the House as he misguided the young generation as well as the whole country by making untrue statements before election.
I have highest personal regards for Mr Jaitley. It does not befit him to make the comments he made few days ago about Mamata Banerjee on Twitter.
Anurag Thakur is intending to become a minister and to trying to satisfy Modi ji, but he cannot make it. During a debate on black money, he was speaking on Sarada. If allowed, we are ready to discuss the Sarada issue. Let him give a notice properly and let the Speaker allow a debate. You should not forget that Sarada owner was not arrested by the CBI but by the Mamata Banerjee Government from the Kashmir boarder and he was taken back to Kolkata custody.
Sir, I want to tell you this Government secured 31% votes; 69% Indians did not vote for BJP. Ruling party may make so many commitments. They can also give many colorful assurances in the election manifesto. Those must be fulfilled. But at least announcements like 'We will bring back black money in 100 days' should not be made.
I think I know when Jaitley ji will speak he may say that because of the double taxation avoidance agreements signed with Switzerland, Germany and France, government cannot bring back black money. Kharge ji said that you knew it before coming to power and it is nothing new. Knowing fully well about the agreement why did you make this promise and commitment?
The government misled the nation, it misled common people, it misled the voters and it misled the young generation of the country as such.
Sir, there are more than 50,0000 black money accounts as per Ramdev ji. He had supported BJP Government in the last election. Today is the completion of six months in power for this Government. The BJP claims 500 billion dollars are stashed abroad. According to Advani ji it is 400 billion USD. We want to know in the 180 days how much money has the government brought back?
Even so I came to know just now, I don't know if it is true or false, but I have been told by some sources that they are not able to bring back the black money back in such a short time. I am categorically saying that I have heard that the PMO has received such type of information before this debate started.
So, Sir, it is very clear and categorical appeal to this Government not to dilute our demands, be positive to the approach, be transparent in the steps you are taking. Had the government been able to fulfill its promise, it would not have been so panic-stricken. So they will have to either fulfill the promises or apologise to the nation for making such untrue statements.
Sir, as a major ruling party BJP uttered few names while delivering their observations, mentioning names of other members of Rajya Sabha from our Trinamool party. Those comments must be expunged because it falls under the rules, the name of the other House cannot be taken up.
Trinamool Congress has the courage. With the permission of the Speaker, I would like to tell one thing to Mr Anurag Thakur. Ms Mamata Banerjee is the Chief Minister who is more popular in her own state than Narendra Modi is popular in Gujarat. If he has 28 Parliament seats we have 42 Parliament seats. If he has got 24 seats we have got 34 seats and in the next 2016 Assembly elections if Mamata Banerjee will get more than 200 Assembly seats. So don't try to challenge the West Bengal Chief Minister's credibility and honesty. The steps which she has taken are pro-people steps; people of Bengal are with her and we will show it in future that Mamata Banerjee ke saath jo takrayenge, chur chur hojaenge. Yeh baat yaad rakhna.
I am grateful to Congress party, Sonia ji in particular that when we started agitating on this black money issue, Indian National Congress extended their full support. Mulayam ji and JD(U) also extended their support. In future also, we hope the Opposition will be united in exposing the false promises made by BJP.
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