New Delhi: In his second radio address to the nation on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to bring back “every penny of the poor man’s money” stashed abroad as untaxed or black money and said it was “an article of faith” for him.
“We don’t know how much money has really gone abroad,” Modi said in the radio address “Mann ki Baat”.Â
“Nobody, not this government, not you, not the previous government knows exactly how much black money is stashed abroad. (But) I will bring back every rupee that has gone out. I will not compromise anywhere. Please trust this Pradhan Sevak. The issue is an article of faith for me,” he said.
The NDA government is currently under fire over BJP’s pre-poll promise of bringing back black money stashed abroad to India within 100 days of coming to power. Congress has claimed that the Prime Minister promised to bring back Rs 55,000 crore stashed abroad and almost every Indian will have Rs 15 lakh in his bank account.Â
The Supreme Court, which has created a special committee to consider how to recover black money, has also come down hard on the government, saying it only wanted the names of the people allegedly involved and it would do the rest.
But the government is in a bind over the issue, since tax treaties ban the disclosure of names at preliminary stages of inquiry. Still eight names have been submitted to the court last week.
On Thursday, Justice MB Shah, who heads the special committee tasked by the Supreme Court to handle the issue, said the investigation will be completed by March 31, the deadline set by the court.