By Sarika Murty
HYDERABAD: The talk delivered by Subramanian Swamy, president, Janata Party and S Gurumurthy, commentator touched upon several facets of illicit wealth stashed in tax-haven countries by Indians.
“Only 15 percent of the total black money from India goes abroad. The money that stays in India cannot be used in fixed assets so it is used for luxurious consumption. Throughout the recession, the prices of air-conditioning industry was not affected.
Consequently, investment priorities get affected,” said Subramanian Swamy, Janata Party president, during his address.
“There is high inflation in the country partly because black money is being loaned out to hoarders,” added Swamy. Citing the example of Hasssan Ali who was found with large number of participatory notes, Swamy said that participatory notes are having an adverse affect on the Indian economy. On the 2G Spectrum Scam, Swamy said that Raja should be put behind bars.
“The essence is quick conviction.
If I am the public prosecutor, by September, Raja would be in jail,” said Swamy. The 2 G spectrum case will mark the beginning of a new India, opined Swamy. “Supreme Court was shocked as to how licences where given to Etisalat DB which is controlled by the Pakistan government, despite a report by the Home Ministry against it on grounds of national security.” The 2G scam will reveal several big names, added Swamy.
“There are big names that will come out including Rober t Vadra. The documentation is complete” said Swamy.
Taking a dig at Kapil Sibal’s views on 2G Spectrum, Swamy said that the former has no credibility.
“Kapil Sibal need not be taken seriously. He has been pulled up by the Supreme Court but he is genetically incapable to be responsible,”said Swamy.
The country needs to strike a balance between material progress and spiritual values, opined Swamy. “I agree that black money is used in elections as well.
But we must remember that in 1977, Mrs Indira Gandhi lost the election. So if there is a serious issue, people will rise above money,” said Swamy. “Removing Manmohan Singh is no solution.
Sonia Gandhi would appoint somebody else and nothing better will come,” added Swamy.
Elaborating on the issue of black money stashed abroad, Gurumurthy said that there is a movement against tax-haven countries. “Peru recovered 186 million, Nigeria recovered 505 million. In G20, the first two meetings discussed how to contain tax havens,” said Gurumurthy.
However, there has been no sincere response from the Indian government, opined Gurumurthy.
“There has only been a protocol response so far,” said Gurumurthy.
While media was fairly honest in 1987, when the battle against Bofors began, the media is corrupt today, added Gurumurthy.
“The stock market generated the tax-haven phenomenon. Also, the concept of ‘notional wealth’ was also generated due to the same,” said Gurumurthy adding that the intelligentsia in the country must gather courage and act. “The manner in which the Supreme Court has taken on corruption in the past 6 months, has given me a lot of hope. It is sending a message to itself,” said Gurumurthy.
On L K Advani’s ‘apology’ to Sonia Gandhi on the task force report on black money , Gurumurthy said that it is not an apology for the report mentioning Sonia Gandhi’s family’s alleged Swiss accounts. “Advani took a principled stand. It was not an apology,” said Gurumurthy.
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