‘No amnesty in black money scheme’

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley responded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “fair and lovely” jibe on Tuesday, saying the Modi government’s new “black” or untaxed-money scheme announced in the budget was not an “amnesty scheme” as it had a provision for penalty.

In a stinging attack on the Congress, the finance minister also accused the party of “colluding with the accused”, apparently referring to the Ishrat Jahan shootout.

“You allowed them bail... and in the process you unbarred the entire security apparatus of India. All this was done because you wanted to fix a political leader... that was not intolerance, that was the law,” he said.

Referring to the JNU case, Jaitley said the government had nothing against a “particular student”. However, free speech could not be allowed to be used to break up the country, he said. “I expect mainstream political parties like Congress to be at the forefront of being against these people. Please don’t do anything that lends respectability to such people,” he said.

Talking about the black money issue in the Rajya Sabha, the finance minister said, “We have told people that if any part of your income has not been assessed, pay 30% tax on it and 50% penalty. It is not an amnesty scheme, it has a penalty.”

Making his intervention on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, Jaitley said: “This is not an amnesty scheme. So when you comment on the gover nment’s policies to get black money from abroad or compliance window, I would say please check your track record,” he said.

On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s charge that the gover nment has “given away” the advantage of cornering Pakistan, Jaitley said: “We are compelling Pakistan for the first time to own up that attacks in India are taking place from their land.”

This is not an amnesty scheme. So when you comment on the government’s policies to get black money from abroad or compliance window, I would say please check your track record.

ARUN JAITLEY, finance minister