UK democracy liberal enough to let defaulters stay, says Jaitley
LONDON: Finance minister Arun Jaitley has said democracy is liberal enough in the UK to permit defaulters to stay here and that “normal” needs to be cracked, in an apparent reference to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India for loan default and other cases.
Referring to loan default as a major problem that needs to be addressed, the Union minister for finance and corporate affairs said India was no longer willing to let defaulters escape the law.
“Many thought that when you take loan from the banks, the money need not be re-paid and you can come to London and stay out here...and democracy is liberal enough to permit defaulters to stay here. That normal needs to be cracked,” he said during a session on Saturday on ‘Transforming India: Vision for the Next Decade’ organised by the London School of Economics’ (LSE) South Asia Centre.
“It is the first time that a strong action has been taken. In fact, it has never happened that defaulters are on the run. The fact that they are on the run and their properties are being attached, is a signal that India is sending for the first time. Otherwise, we had learned to live with defaulters,” he said during his ongoing visit to the UK.
Mallya, the chief of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, had moved to Britain in March last year after banks sued him to recover around USD 1.4 billion owed by the airline.
Earlier this month, the Indian government formally requested Britain to extradite him to India for standing trial for alleged loan default and money laundering. Earlier this month, the Indian government formally requested Britain to extradite him to India for standing trial for alleged loan default and money laundering.
India and the UK have an extradition treaty since 1993, under which only one extradition from the UK to India has ever taken place, that of Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel in October, 2016, to stand trial for his alleged role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
Jaitley refused to confirm if the issue of Mallya’s extradition would feature in his talks with senior British ministers. ROHTAK:IN yet another resolution passed to press for their demands, Jat leader Yashpal Malik on Sunday asked the community to stop purchasing goods from shops that don’t support their agitation in written.
He said this while addressing Jat protesters, who had gathered in Jassia village for ‘Black Day’ to demonstrate against what they call the “bias of the government against the Jat community”.
Malik said, “From March 1, purchase only those goods from the market that are extremely important and only from those shops or traders who have mentioned that they support Jat agitation and the demands raised by the community, in writing outside their shops.”
“Try to buy as little as possible to crumble the markets in Haryana,” the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) president said.
The Jat leader had earlier asked the community to stop paying electricity and water bills and repayment of loans to government agencies from March.
The community leaders reiterated that Jat victims of last year’s quota stir were ‘not given justice’.
It is learnt that the principal organising committee of the quota stir, the AIJASS, reportedly distributed black scarves to women and black turbans to men in a door-to-door campaign in several villages that are actively participating in the dharnas.
National highway-71 A that passes through Jassia was clogged with a large number of vehicles belonging to the protest ers. Police had closed the high way from Rohtak to Jassia and diverted routes for commuters
However, police and paramili tary forces were not deployed anywhere near the dharna spots
LEADERS CALL FOR ‘BLACK HOLI’
The Jat leaders on Sunday also asked the community to boycott the upcoming festival of Holi in March. “So many of our commu nity members have died in the last one year, while many are in jail. There has been immense injustice. We will observe Black Holi by not celebrating it,” Jat leader Ashok Balhara said.