Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that when he questioned the government about the names of the top 50 bank loan defaulters in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not reply.
Citing a Right to Information (RTI) reply from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Congress party stated Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government waived off Rs 68,607 crore worth of loans for a list of top 50 defaulters, which includes Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya.
The opposition party also alleged that the Centre has waived off loans worth Rs 6.66 lakh crore from 2014 till September 2019.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that when he questioned the government about the names of the top 50 bank loan defaulters in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not reply. “Now, the RBI has given out the list which includes Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and many of BJP’s ‘friends’,” Gandhi said.
“Now the RBI has given the names of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, and many of BJP’s ‘friends’ in the list of bank frauds. That is why this truth was held back from Parliament,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
संसद में मैंने एक सीधा सा प्रश्न पूछा था- मुझे देश के 50 सबसे बड़े बैंक चोरों के नाम बताइए।
वित्तमंत्री ने जवाब देने से मना कर दिया।
अब RBI ने नीरव मोदी, मेहुल चोकसी सहित भाजपा के ‘मित्रों’ के नाम बैंक चोरों की लिस्ट में डाले हैं।
इसीलिए संसद में इस सच को छुपाया गया। pic.twitter.com/xVAkxrxyVM
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 28, 2020
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also released the list of the top loan defaulters in the country, as per the RTI reply, and demanded answers from PM Modi about the reasons behind waiving off the loans of the tycoons.
“This is a classic case of promoting ‘dupe, deceive and depart’ policy of the Modi government, which can no longer be accepted and the prime minister has to answer,” he told reporters through video conference.
Surjewala also said, “this reflects the misconceived priorities and dishonest intentions of the Modi government”.
He further added that the entire nation is battling the coronavirus outbreak and the government has no money to pay to states but has the funds to condone and write off Rs 68,307 crore of bank loan defaulters.
Shri @RahulGandhi MP (LS) and Shri @rssurjewala spokesperson of @INCIndia have attempted to mislead people in a brazen manner. Typical to @INCIndia, they resort to sensationalising facts by taking them out of context. In the following tweets wish to respond to the issues raised.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 28, 2020
Responding to the allegations, Sitharaman said the duo was attempting to mislead people “in a brazen manner”. She said it was the Modi government that was pursuing wilful defaulters, and that the total value of attachment and seizures in the cases of Nirav Modi, Choksi and Mallya was Rs 18,332.7 crore. “Congress and Rahul Gandhi should introspect why they fail to play a constructive role in cleaning up the system. Neither while in power, nor while in the opposition has the Congress shown any commitment or inclination to stop corruption and cronyism,” she said.
(With PTI inputs)