In a fresh attack on the UPA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the high levels of non-performing assets left over by the previous government were its biggest scam, and castigated industry bodies for not raising their voices against this at that time.
Mr. Modi said the current high levels of NPAs were a legacy of the fact that leaders in the previous government used to pressurise banks to give loans to select businessmen.
“Nowadays, the noise around NPAs… that was the biggest liability given to this government by the economists of the previous government,” Mr. Modi said, addressing the FICCI Annual General Meeting. “I am interested to know, when there was pressure put on the banks by people sitting in that government to give loans to some special businessmen, then did organisations like FICCI do anything? Was it issuing warnings or raising its voice?”
Silence on wrong-doing
“People sitting in the previous government knew, the banks also knew, as did the industry, all markets also knew that something wrong was going on,” Mr. Modi said. “This was the biggest scam of the UPA government. This scam was much bigger than the Commonwealth scam, the 2G scam, or the coal scam.”
“In a way, the people sitting in that government, through the medium of the businessmen, looted the incomes of the public,” he said. “Did any survey or study raise this issue? Those people who kept quiet and watched everything happen, was there any attempt to awaken them to action?”
The Prime Minister said there were several untrue rumours being spread about the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, and urged organisations such as FICCI to clear the air about such issues.
On FRDI Bill
“In the past few days, rumours have been spread to a large degree about the FRDI Bill,” Mr. Modi said. “The government is relentlessly trying to secure the interests of the bank customers, and to secure their deposits. But the news is being spread that we are doing the exact opposite. There is a need for organisations like FICCI to work towards clearing the air about topics like this among the public and industry.”
Mr. Modi also highlighted the achievements under several schemes started by this government.
“We are creating a system that is not only transparent but also sensitive,” he said. “That understands the needs of the people. So, we started the Jan Dhan Yojana ... Under the Mudra Yojana, about 9.75 crore loans worth more than ₹4 lakh crore have been given in the past three years.”