Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the government in Lok Sabha of not replying to his query on top 50 wilful bank defaulters but Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur hit back and said the government was not hiding anything and will not allow itself to be blamed for "sins" of others.
He said Gandhi had displayed "ignorance" with his remarks about the banking sector and the Modi government has taken a series of steps to recover money from fugitive economic offenders. He said a list of wilful defaulters is given on CIC website.
The House witnessed noisy scenes after the minister's reply and Opposition members including those of Congress, DMK and NCP staged a walkout.
Asking a supplementary to his question listed for oral answer, Gandhi said the economy was passing through a difficult phase and there had been "hollowing out" of banks.
"Our economy is going through a very difficult period. Our banking system is practically not working anymore. Banks are failing and I suspect more banks are going to fail as a result of the current global situation. The central cause of the failure of the banks and one of the central causes of unemployment is hollowing out, which is the stealing of money from our banks by a large number of people. I had asked a simple question, who are the top 50 wilful defaulters. I have not been given a reply. Something else has been stated," Gandhi said.
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Speaker Om Birla asked Gandhi to ask his query but he urged the Chair to allow him to speak. "Allow me to set (the question)," Gandhi said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked of bringing to book and bringing back all those who had looted public money but his government has not "answered the question".
As Thakur began to respond, Gandhi asked why Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was in the House, was not responding.
Speaker Om Birla said most replies during question hour were given by Ministers of State.
Thakur attacked the Congress-led UPA and said people know how loan defaults happened, why these happened.
He alleged that the question has been asked with a wrong motive.
"I think they know what are the shortcomings that is why they do not want to listen to the answers," he said.
Thakur said that defaults in gross advances by banks had gone down during the rule of the NDA government. "It was 0.64 per cent of gross advances in 2010-14 but came down to 0.18 per cent in 2018-20 and 0.08 per cent in 2019-20. The average growth of credit during their time was 18 per cent and frauds use to take place," he said.
Thakur said the government has taken a series of steps to improve the condition of banks including asset capital review and recapatilastion.
He said if Gandhi had framed the question himself, he would know the details.
"As far as the issue of 50 wilful defaulters in concerned, if the member has himself written the question, he would definitely have information. Information of 50 wilful defaulters is given on CIC website. There is nothing to hide. It will not allow itself to be blamed for sins committed by others. These people took the money and went away during their (Congress) rule," he said.
Thakur said the names of defaulters of over Rs one crore were also available.
"If you want to leave after listening to the names, I am ready to give them, put them on the table of the House. There is nothing to hide. People ran away abroad after taking money during their government.
"They distributed and we brought it back. I am ready to give all the names and lay them on the table of the House," he said.
Thakur said large amounts of loans crores had been recovered and the government had brought Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill and property of offenders had been seized.
He said Rs 4,80,000 crore had been recovered.
He also referred to the sale of a painting of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor through cheque and said he was not making political allegations.
"I do not want to give it a political turn. Whom the painting was sold, whose account the money went. We are not doing politics but a senior member raising questions about the entire banking sector shows how ignorant he is.
Referring to restructuring of Yes Bank, he said Finance Minister has assured people that every bank is secure.
"We took steps for restructuring of bank in three days," he said.
"Their painting was sold but we did not go there," he said.
Congress members protested over the minister's reply and pressed that Gandhi be allowed to ask a second supplementary question. The Speaker announced that Question Hour had ended.
Soon after the House met for the day, it paid tributes to three former members who had passed away - Ram Krishna Yadav, Tapas Pal and Krishna Bose.
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