Drawing a parallel between the Narendra Modi government and its predecessor UPA, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today slammed the Centre for refusing to disclose all information on black money, saying it had buckled to the pressure of powerful people who have stashed illegal money in foreign banks.
"The Narendra Modi government's attempt to block the disclosure of names of individuals who have stashed black money abroad is a betrayal with the people of India and first major breach of trust by this regime," AAP alleged in a statement.
"The BJP-led government's stand is identical to its predecessor, the UPA government, and it is now clear that the Narendra Modi government has also buckled to the pressure of powerful people who have kept their illegal money in foreign banks," it said.
Earlier, the Centre submitted before the Supreme Court that all the information on black money received from foreign countries, with which India has double taxation avoidance agreement, cannot be disclosed.
AAP also demanded that the NDA government must reveal the real reasons for its sudden "u-turn", which has made it stand in the same line as that of the UPA government.
The party recalled that before Lok Sabha elections, the then BJP president Rajnath Singh, who is now the Home Minister, had promised to bring back all the black money stashed in foreign banks if BJP came to power.
"What is shocking is that the BJP, which had brought an adjournment motion in Parliament in 2011 demanding the disclosure of names of those who have black money stashed in foreign bank accounts, is now giving the same defeated and rejected excuses to deny this information from being made public," AAP added.
It also added that the AAP will raise the issue in the forthcoming Winter Session in Parliament and will keep asking the government the reason for its unjustified move, which is a direct compromise with the biggest source of corruption in the country.
