In the wake of Supreme Court questioning the Government's reluctance to disclose names of Indians who allegedly stashed black money in foreign banks, The Bharatiya Janata Party charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with breach of parliamentary propriety by not keeping his promise made in Rajya Sabha to get back the money.
"On July 30, 2009 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had categorically told the Rajya Sabha that action has already started for getting back the money belonging to Indians from Swiss Banks.... he should at least reveal the names of these people. What is the difficulty in that," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
He recalled the incident in the Rajya Sabha when the Prime Minister had "suo motu" intervened to refer to the statement of the Finance Minister in his reply to the Finance Bill in the House and had stated that the Finance Minister had specifically dealt with this aspect and had said that action had already started.
"BJP would like the Prime Minister to clarify whether he chose to mislead the House by making a statement which has been contradicted by the Supreme Court. It is a matter of propriety
and also a matter of privilege of the House. The BJP would want a straight answer from the Prime Minister," Rudy said.
The senior BJP leader insisted that the Swiss Ambassador has categorically stated that there is no request from the
Indian Government to reveal the names of those people whose money has been kept in Swiss Banks.
"The Prime Minister is quiet, the Government is quiet. An absolute inaction in this regard makes the Manmohan Singh
government culpable... Here is a situation where the government is overtly and covertly attempting to cover up the black money," he alleged.
The BJP alleged that soon after assuming office in 2009, the Prime Minister had said he will initiate action within 100
days to recover Indian black money- estimated to be Rs one lakh crore - stashed abroad.
Rudy said the indictment of the UPA government by the Supreme Court is shocking and described the government's
silence as "intriguing".
He observed that the Supreme Court has had to intervene on several issues during UPA regime, be it 2-G spectrum,
Commonwealth Games, or Indian black money stashed abroad.