Continuing his attack on the Centre, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged the decision to demonetise 500 and 1,000 rupee notes was not aimed at curbing black money but to "create black money".
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader reiterated that the November 8 demonetisation is the "biggest scam of independent India, involving Rs 8 lakh crore".
"(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji is not serious about curbing black money. His intention is not good. This decision is to create black money," Kejriwal said in a live video chat on his Facebook page.
"This is not Modi vs Kejriwal; now, it's Modi vs the rest of the country."
The AAP national convener alleged that the State Bank of India has waived loans of Rs 6,000 crore sanctioned to 63 capitalists in three days after demonetisation announcement.
"(Liquor baron) Vijay Mallya is one of these capitalists, whose loan of Rs 1,200 crore has been waived by the State Bank of India," Kejriwal alleged.
Kejriwal said loans totalling Rs 8 lakh crore were sanctioned to big corporate houses run by these capitalists. He alleged that the corporate houses siphoned off the money or it was partly written off by banks.
He said the Centre had already waived loans of Rs 1.14 lakh crore given to these corporate houses.
"This demonetisation is a conspiracy. The government expects to net 10-11 lakh crore rupees by asking people to surrender the spiked currency and write off the bad debts," the AAP leader said.
He appealed to the people to ponder as to how the launch of Rs 2,000 note will stop black money.
"Earlier, you had to carry 50 notes of Rs 1,000; now you will have to carry half of the number of notes for the same amount. You tell -- will this (decision) encourage corruption and bribe or not? This will help the black money hoarders," Kejriwal said.
He cited an example from Gujarat where an official was caught three days ago while receiving Rs 3 lakh bribe in new Rs 2,000 notes. He also gave several other examples from Madhya Pradesh and Assam where government employees were caught red handed with bribes in 2,000 rupee notes.
"How did these people manage to exchange lakhs of rupees when people get to exchange only Rs 2,000 (earlier Rs 4,500 and Rs 4,000). It means black money hoarders are able to get money through the back door. Only the common man is being troubled," the Delhi Chief Minister said.
Kejriwal also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of corruption when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, alleging there were Income Tax Department's documents that said two corporate houses had paid some Rs 40 crore bribe to Modi at that time.
Showing some Income Tax files, Kejriwal said he was not aware about the veracity of these documents but stressed that an investigation should be conducted.
"The money spent during Modi's campaign (in the 2014 general elections) was not legal money. It was all black money. The Prime Minister should tell from whom and how much amount he had taken. He should ask those people to deposit their money (black) in banks," the AAP leader said.
"People are saying that Modi ji is the Prime Minister of the rich only and they have committed mistake by voting for him," he said.
--IANS
rak-am/tsb
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