Demonetization was organized loot and legalized looting, Congress said (File)
Ahead of the 4th anniversary of demonetization, Congress demanded on Friday that the government bring a white paper on the benefits of its decision to ban higher denomination notes.
Congress spokesman Gourav Vallabh asked why the government was afraid to release the names of entities involved in scams, details of defaulters and transaction leads, since the income tax department was probing anyone whose income was not disclosed.
“In the coming weeks, when we commemorate the 4th anniversary, we demand that the government publish a white paper outlining the cost and benefits of this ‘Tughlaqi decree’,” he said at a press conference. .
The congressman said the government should report how many of these alleged missing items have been probed by the Income Tax Department and what undisclosed income has come to light.
The Income Tax Department had announced that it would initiate an assessment procedure to verify cases of black currency after demonetization, but to date there has been no disclosure from the department.
“Demonetization was organized booty and legalized looting,” he said.
“So far, how much black money has the government collected from these defaulters?”
Mr Vallabh alleged that serious charges of tax evasion were brought as a result of the demonetization against a prominent jeweler in Surat, who had sales of 96.3 crore rupees after 8:30 p.m. on November 8, 2016, when the noteban was imposed.
Subsequently, between November 10 and 12, the jeweler deposited almost Rs 110 crore in cash in banks and the total tax paid according to the allegations is only Rs 80 lakh.
He said the astonishing thing is that instead of following up on the complaint, the IT department went after the complainant himself, who is a former income tax officer.
“Why has the government decided to abuse the mechanisms to attack the whistleblower instead of opening an investigation into the alleged scam,” he asked.
Mr. Vallabh also accused the Modi government of being “autocratic under the guise of democratic government”.
He said the Indian economy was still reeling from the aftershocks of the misguided move.
