The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "cheating" people on the black money issue, and said though he had made tall claims on repatriating the ill-gotten money in the run-up to elections the NDA government is doing a flip-flop after assuming power.
"Why Modi has cheated people on the issue of black money? The government has no idea about the amount of money stashed in foreign banks.
"But in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls, while a yoga guru claimed that Rs 400 lakh crore were deposited outside the country, Modi talked about Rs 70 lakh crore," Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said when asked about Modi raising the issue of black money in Brisbane, Australia.
"They should explain from where they have got these figures," he said. Modi, who is attending G-20 Summit in Australia, today said that repatriation of black money kept abroad is a "priority" for his government, as he sought close global coordination to achieve this objective.
The prime minister raised the black money issue at an informal meeting of leaders of the five-nation BRICS bloc.
"Modi said that he would ensure that every citizen get Rs 3 lakh when black money is brought back to the country, but now the government told the Supreme Court that it has no idea about the figure and took the (same) stand that the Congress -led UPA government had taken in the apex court.
"I am also a member of the Finance Committee and the Secretary of Revenue had informed me that three committees that were constituted earlier have submitted their report on the issue," Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, said.
"They (government) said they will examine the report which will take six months for evaluating the exact figure that was stashed in foreign banks. Besides, government will also have to define (what constitutes) black money as only that money which had been earned through criminal means falls under the definition of black money," he said.
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