Black money row: Left says BJP and Centre stand exposed

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday criticized the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre for not disclosing the names of persons having money stashed away in safe havens abroad, and alleged that it exposed the utter hypocrisy and double standards of the BJP.

"When they are in the opposition they use one language, and when they are in government they do exactly of what they were accusing the Congress Government of doing. It was our party the Left, the CPI (M) and other Left MPs who had actually raised the issue of why they are not revealing the names of those who are black money holders," she told ANI here.

Karat said her party had opposed the double taxation agreements earlier.

"This is nothing but an avenue not only for tax avoidance but also of money laundering. We strongly opposed it. It was the BJP and the Congress both of them who support the double taxation agreement," she said.

The CPI (M) leader demanded that the government must disclose the names of those wrong doers, who have cheated India.

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja echoing similar sentiments on the issue said it is the hypocrisy of BJP that is getting exposed thoroughly.

"Now, they are in office, they must come forward to reveal the names and unearth the black money and they are not ready to reveal the names," Raja said.

"They say there are international treaties, bilateral treaties which prevent them not to reveal the names. This is exactly what the Congress-led government was telling inside and outside the Parliament," he added.

Asserting that there is no big difference between the Congress and BJP on the issue of black money, Raja said: "Where is the commitment, where is the honesty, where is the sincerity. If the BJP is really sincere in unearthing black money it can find a way."

"There is total lack of political will on the part of BJP government, Mr. Modi as Prime Minister. In the absence of political will, how can they unearth black money," he added.

The Centre had earlier on Friday told the Supreme Court that it cannot disclose the names of all those having black money stashed abroad as it violates the double taxation avoidance agreement.

Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani had accused the Centre of trying to protect people with black money.

Switzerland had earlier this month said that it will examine Indian requests for banking information on a priority basis and provide requested details in a time-bound manner.

India had also constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe cases of alleged black money of Indians, including funds stashed abroad in places like Switzerland.

A Special Investigation Team, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice M B Shah, is looking into the menace of black money.