Housing sector is the biggest beneficiary of demonetisation as interest rates have fallen, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said and expressed hope that Finance Minister will announce more incentives for the sector in the Budget on February 1.
Taking a jibe on commentators who cast doubts on benefits to government from demonetisation as Rs 15 lakh crore have come back into the system, Naidu said this will lead to more people coming under the tax net.
"...Every note has come back to the bank and note is followed by an address...Whether it is white or black that will be known after its scrutiny," the Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation said at an investors' meet here.
If tax net widens, the interest rates will come down, he added.
"I am happy because I am one of the largest beneficiary of this (demonetisation) because I head the housing ministry. My housing interest rates have come down considerable.
"I hope my friend Finance Minister Arun jaitley will do some more in the coming budget," he said and added that boom in housing sector means pick up in sectors like cement, steel, and construction, leading increase in employment.
Jaitley is scheduled to present the Union Budget for 2017-18 financial year on February 1.
The government on November 8 last year had demonetised Rs 500/1000 notes, which constituted about 87 per cent of the currency in circulation.
With banks flushed with cash, the interest rates have fallen by up to one per cent.
Naidu, however, emphasised that the government does not
support any violent activity.
He attacked the Congress, saying it has been in alliance with sectarian forces.
"You had an alliance with the Muslim League. You had alliance with extremist forces, you are aligned with Leftists and you are creating, inciting violence," Naidu alleged.
The minister alleged Congress leaders visited campuses to "incite violence", apparently referring to Rahul Gandhi's visit to the JNU and Hyderabad Central University following controversies over an event to comemmorate Afzal Guru's hanging and in the aftermath of suicide by Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula respectively.
Hitting out at political rivals, Naidu said they were frustrated because a majority of people had rejected their ideology and philosophy.
"They are frustrated and trying to mislead young minds by this sort of arguments. There are more than 7000 institutions in the country but you try to create disturbance in a few universities by raking up castiest, communal or separatist issues," the I&B minister said.
There is a systematic effort to tarnish the image of the government, he said.
He said there was so much freedom of speech in the country that even the Prime Minister can be called names.
Responding to a question, Naidu said that the critics of the government had double standards was exposed by their silence when Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie and Tarek Fateh came under attack by hardliners.
"Even the UP chief minister has said that he had made the donkey statement in the context of Holi. You may have seen the papers that 15,000 tourists visit to watch donkeys in Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
"You make comments out of disappointment and then are forced to give clarifications....You are losing the battle in Uttar Pradesh very badly. You have seen in Maharashtra, Odisha where the Congress party is becoming a marginal party, from a national party to a notional party," he added.
