Modi is corrupt, note ban is a fraud: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of corruption and said the note ban was meant to bail out corporates who had defaulted on bank loans.

Addressing a public meeting here, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the Prime Minister was not serious on fighting black money or corruption as he claimed while announcing the demonetisation.

"If he was serious, he only had to arrest all those who have stashed their illegal wealth in Swiss banks," Kejriwal told the rally.

Kejriwal waved Income Tax department documents to claim that two major corporate houses gave huge bribes to Modi when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat before becoming the Prime Minister in May 2014.

Instead of having the allegations investigated, Modi had suppressed the probes, the AAP leader said, citing sources in the Income Tax department where he once held a senior post.

"The Prime Minister knows who all have Swiss bank accounts," he said. "But he won't arrest them. Because they are his friends."

He said demonetisation was a "conspiracy" hatched by Modi and BJP President Amit Shah to make millions deposit all the demonetised currency in 500 and 1,000 rupee notes so that this could be used to waive off loans taken by corporate houses.

The demonetisation, Kejriwal said, had gravely harmed the economy and led to the death of some 105 people across the country.

He asked Modi to instruct the Bharatiya Janata Party to first start accepting donations in cheques or through Paytm before asking people in the country to go cashless.

"The BJP gets 70 per cent of all donations in cash... But they tell people to go cashless.

"Those known to Modi spend crores on the wedding of their daughters. But they tell us all to get our daughters married off in 2.5 lakh rupees."

"Modi is corrupt," Kejriwal thundered to loud cheers.

--IANS

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