Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal's allegations about some Indians having accounts in tax havens abroad gave the Bharatiya Janata Party an opportunity to flag the issue of black money again as the party asked the government to make public all details of such individuals and entities.The BJP claimed it been raising the issue of black money since the 2009 general elections when its prime ministerial candidate L K Advani had demanded that names of all individuals and entities who have stashed Indian money abroad illegally should be made public.
"The BJP believes that it is a very serious problem which the government has to tackle. When Advani had raised it, the Congress had mocked and laughed at it. Having won the elections and gauging the mood of the people, the UPA government said in 2009 that it will act on this within 100 days. But nothing has moved since then," party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Striking a sarcastic note, the BJP leader insisted that this was expected from the Congress, which "fails" to keep its promise.
Recalling the sequence of events, the BJP claimed that initially 22 names were revealed by Liechtenstein but the government did not make all the data public.
Sitharaman said the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced some measures on the issue in the Parliament. This included formation of a committee to look into the matter but till today the government has not shared any details on the progress.
"The government should tell what has been done by the committee. It should also now make public all the 700 names of account holders given to the government by the French government. You cannot pick and choose some names," Sitharaman said.
