JAMMU: Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directive calling upon the BJP Ministers, MPs and MLAs for submission of their Bank Accounts to Amit Shah as a political stunt, Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman JKNPP and former Minister on Wednesday said that people of the country could no longer be swayed by gimmicks and tantrums.
He said that if the PM really wanted to expose and punish such leaders he ought to have directed them to put their banks accounts and property details in public domain rather than their submission to BJP chief.
He further said that it was not only the deposits and withdrawals between November 8 and December 30 which needed to be publicized but the annual property returns of all such leaders were required to be put on the official website in case the PM was sincerely concerned about the menace of corruption.
He said that annual public disclosure of assets of such leaders could not be substituted by so called in house accountability and transparency.
Describing PM Modi’s directive as an eye wash and window-dressing for the gullible, Singh questioned as to what action had been taken against those ministers who were accused of real estate scam and money laundering scam recently with J&K Government failing to give any clarification despite public outrage.
Likewise, he said, the sudden spike in deposits in September 2016 prior to demonetization as revealed by Reserve Bank of India had also gone unprobed.
Quoting the figures provided by RBI, Singh pointed out that “Sept 2016 saw an aggregate addition of Rs. 5.98 lakh crore over that in August 2016 to hit an all time high of Rs. 1,02,08,290 crore”, which had created genuine apprehensions and doubts in the minds of the public.
He said that such a sensational disclosure made by RBI had put the BJP in the dock and necessitated a probe into the huge unprecedented deposits.
Describing Modi’s statement as a nauseating vague assertion, Singh said that it only revealed his penchant and obsession for publicity splurge.
Seeking a deep surgery of the allegations of corruption against BJP leaders, Singh said that such tantrums of submission of Bank A/Cs amid petulant fits of passion would only evoke cynicism rather than appreciation. He said that rather than asking BJP leaders for provision of copies of their Bank accounts to Amit Shah, Modi should order a probe into the Nami, Benami property accumulated by such leaders as well as the illegal dirty cash deposited by them in various accounts including “Jan Dhan” accounts whose balances had swollen by Rs. 64000 crore in the last few days. He further called for high level probe into the widely reported traumatic phase of scams in J and K by proper investigations against the accused Ministers and MLAs.