New Delhi:
"Will we have to rely on Julian Assange to reveal the names of Indians who have black money in foreign accounts?" asked senior BJP leader LK Advani during a lengthy speech in Parliament today. Mr Advani has moved an adjournment motion on black money in the Lok Sabha; Speaker Meira Kumar said it will be taken up at 4 pm today, she has allotted a little over two hours for the discussion that will culminate in a vote.
The BJP has been asking for crores worth of untaxed money stored in foreign bank accounts to be brought back to India. Mr Advani accused the government of "being soft" on the issue of black or undeclared money, and said the government owes it to the country to reveal the names of 782 alleged tax evaders. This list of Indians with Swiss bank accounts was recently given to India by the French government. "It will be humiliating for us if WikiLeaks discloses these details," Mr Advani said. Rs 25 lakh crores is stashed in Swiss accounts, Mr Advani alleged. "Share all these facts with Parliament, Mr PM and Mr Finance Minister," he urged.
The BJP has been pressing for the motion on black money since the Winter Session of Parliament began over two weeks ago. The motion is meant to signal the opposition BJP's offensive against the government on corruption and its corollaries. But the actual wording of the motion - the text on which Parliament will vote - has been toned down after negotiations with the government. The opposition party has agreed to the words "the situation arising out of" instead of "government failure" - the language means that there will be not be an ardent censure of the government, and that voting will likely take place on a neutral motion.
The BJP has made black money a major issue since the last Lok Sabha elections, and it topped the agenda of Mr Advani's recent countrywide tour against corruption which ended in Delhi in November. Pointing out that the matter was "close to the political system", he had demanded a white paper on what the government was doing to bring back the black money in foreign bank accounts. Soon after the yatra ended, the BJP veteran had said that the focus of Parliament's Winter Session would be the black money parked in Swiss accounts.
On Friday, which was world anti-corruption day, BJP MPs took a pledge in both Houses of Parliament and declared that they did not have foreign bank accounts to stash away black money.