New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government’s submission in the Supreme Court Friday that it cannot disclose names, received from foreign governments, of people who have allegedly stashed away their ill-gotten money in tax havens abroad triggered a war of words between the Congress and BJP.
While the Congress accused Prime Minister Modi of “hypocrisy” on the issue of bringing back black money, the Bharatiya Janata Party said the government was bound by the provisions of the treaty of double taxation avoidance signed by a previous Congress government.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also said that the names cannot be revealed due to a confidentiality clause in a double taxation avoidance agreement India had signed with Germany in 1995. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi Friday sought an apology from Modi over the government’s stance in the apex court.
He said it was unfortunate that the same party which accused the United Progressive Alliance government of not being interested in bringing back black money has told the apex court that they are unable to disclose the information they have collected.
“If there is the slightest bit of political honesty, the prime minister should apologise to the nation,” he said.
He also recalled Modi’s tweets during the campaign for Lok Sabha polls in which he had taken digs at the Congress and said the National Democratic Alliance will bring every paisa stashed abroad.
Singhvi also called upon activists Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev and Kiran Bedi — all of whom were part of the anti-corruption agitation against the UPA government in the past — to launch a similar agitation against the BJP-led government.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, however, sought to put the onus back on the Congress. (Earlier report on P-5) (IANS)