IANS
New Delhi, Oct 25: In a bid to counter the opposition campaign, the BJP will celebrate November 8, the day high value currencies were demonetised last year, as “Anti-Black Money Day” across the country.
Announcing the party’s decision to counter the opposition plans for observing the day as “Black Day”, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday said all prominent leaders, union ministers, state ministers and office bearers will participate in programmes across the country.
On November 8, the party will organise programmes highlighting all the steps the government has taken against black money. He said since the government was formed in 2014, from day one it had taken steps against black money.
“There was a parallel black money economy in the country. When the NDA government came to power (May 2014), Prime Minister Narendra Modi took steps to minimise and end it. On November 8, the BJP will celebrate ‘Anti-Black Money Day’ and mobilize people in favour of the steps taken against black money,” Jaitley told reporters here.
The special investigation team (SIT), to go into black money, which was directed by the Supreme Court in 2011 and was not acted upon by the previous UPA government, was formed by the NDA, the Finance Minister said.
He said the government also brought in laws to check black money by giving a last opportunity to those who had stashed money abroad by offering them 60 per cent for repatriating their assets.
“The account holders in Liechtenstein and HSBC have all been assessed and criminal action has been filed against them. The government has also worked internationally under the G20 framework and other fora, including an agreement with Switzerland, to get real time information on black money stashed abroad to evade tax.
“Agreements with Mauritius and Cyprus that allowed round tripping of money have been reworked.”
Jaitley also hit out at the Congress over its plans to observe the day because the demonetisation decision was “ill conceived”.
“Various account holders in banks which were illegal, cases were filed against them. Demonetisation was a big step towards it. It was a huge step for squeezing cash economy, cash-based transactions and widened the tax base. All the three steps were the positive results of demonetisation and along with GST it would make cash generation difficult.”
Apparently referring to the opposition criticism, Jaitley said it was normal for political parties which had a number of opportunities to be in power earlier not recognize that the squeeze on black money and the other steps cannot be achieved through baby steps.
