NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party heavily came down upon the Modi Government over the freebies controversy on Saturday. The party accused BJP’s Modi Government of using taxpayer money to provide benefits worth 19 lac crores to their super-rich friends but demonising the same taxpayers for availing welfare schemes.
AAP Senior Leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “Modi Government is a champion of freebies; loans worth Rs 12.40 lakh crore were waived by Modi Government, they oversaw bank frauds of Rs 5 lakh crore and a loss of Rs 1.84 lakh crore due to reduction in corporate taxes. Ever since CM Arvind Kejriwal has put the reality of the Modi Government in front of the public, all senior leaders and ministers of BJP have been rattled. RTI has revealed that the Modi Government waived off loans worth 11 lakh crore for its friends, but BJP leaders lied that Rs 8 lakh crore was returned. Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad submitted in the House that only Rs 86,986 crore have been recovered in 5 years.
Aam Aadmi Party has only one question from BJP: how does it make sense to forgive lakhs of crores of rupees of your friends when the country is hit by inflation and you are taxing the aam aadmi on milk, curd, lassi & medicines too? Modi Government decreased corporate tax from 30 percent to 22 percent to help their super-rich friends, if it hadn’t done this, then they would not have had to impose GST on daily commodities. PM Modi travels in airplanes worth thousands of crores using public money, MLAs-MPs get bungalows & electricity-water for free and when CM Arvind Kejriwal gives free-of-cost electricity-water-education to the public, they call it freebies.
The economy is in the ruins, budget of the army has been reduced by Rs 63 thousand crores, 22 crore youths sought jobs but only 7 lakhs were given jobs. Appeal to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman — you are not some new councillor, call a special session of the house and discuss the issue of inflation and waiving loans for the rich. AAP will not let this dual policy of the Modi Government continue; we won’t let the super-rich be portrayed as saints when taxpayers are being demonised.”
Shri Sanjay Singh said, “The BJP and PM Modi have been completely rattled ever since CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal exposed their reality in front of the public. Not one BJP leader, MP-MLA, minister has a logical answer to give to the public. All that the AAP is seeking to understand is why do they hate the common man so much? BJP wrote off loans worth 11 lac crores for their super-rich friends but when it comes to the common man, they are imposing taxes on milk, curd, lassi too. Petrol, diesel and gas cylinder prices are skyrocketing. They have even gone as far as taxing 800 lifesaving medicines. They’re taxing the poor but making their super-rich richer and waiving their loans off. The BJP has gotten so arrogant that it is slandering the honest, hardworking and deshbhakt aam aadmi of this country for availing welfare services free of any charge. They are going around calling the aam aadmi of this country a freebie hoarder, without thinking of how the public itself pays taxes to make the country run.”
He added, “There’s a difference between a freebie and a free-of-cost facility. If the Kejriwal Government provides education, healthcare, electricity, water, bus transport for women, teerth yatra for the elderly completely free of any cost. We don’t call our facilities any freebie or rewri, because it is the public who pays for these schemes through taxes. And when the public pays, the public must be served. The PM and the BJP need to stop demonising the public by calling welfare schemes, rewris and freebies. For when the PM enjoys a 12,000 crore plane ride, the public pays for it. For when MP-MLAs get houses to live in, the public pays for it. When your leaders get helicopters to fly in, the public pays for it. But when AAP & CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal want to pay back the public through electricity-water, education-healthcare free-of-cost, the PM and the BJP start sweating in their sleep.”
He continued, “What is free ki rewri after all? RBI data tells us, there’s no bigger freebie than writing off bank loans to help the super rich. In 2013-14, 19,814 crores were written off by these people to help their friends. In 2014-15, 60,196 crores, in 2015, 72,501 crore, in 2016-17, 1,07,823 crores, in 2017-18, 1,62,733 crores, in 2018-19, 2,32,725 crores, in 2019-20, 2,37,924 crores, in 2020-21 2,08,133 crore. This totals up to 12,58,365 crore rupees. Of which, the BJP’s Central Government has written off over 12.40 lac crores in the recent past itself. And that’s not it, PM Modi’s government is a star in overseeing bank frauds too. In 2015-16, there were a total of 18,699 crores worth bank frauds recorded. In 2016-17, 23,923 crores, in 2017-18, 41,167 crores, in 2018-19, 71,534 crores, in 2019-20, 1,85,468 crores, in 2020-21, 1,38,422 crores, and uptill now in 2021-22, 60,141 crores. All of this is RBI data, it totals upto almost 5 lac crores. Their own data exposes the failures of the Central Government.”
He further said, “If this wasn’t it, then they came to reduce corporate tax too from 30% to 22%. This BJP government has made life easier for its super-rich friends by reducing corporate taxes. But when this percentage comes into practicality, this government has sponsored a staggering loss of 1.84 lac crores by reducing corporate taxes. Had they not reduced taxes for those who use the silver spoon they wouldn’t need to tax daily commodities like atta-dal-chawal. The PM doesn’t care about the Aam Aadmi. He cares about his super-rich suited booted friends. Ever since PM Modi has taken over, the cost of living in India has risen. In 2014, petrol was Rs 71/litre, today it is Rs 97/litre, diesel was Rs 57/litre, today it is Rs 90/litre. In 2014, an LPG gas cylinder cost Rs 414, today it costs Rs 1080. Atta cost Rs 21/kg, today it is Rs 29/kg. Cooking oil used to cost Rs 52, now it is Rs 180.”
Shri Sanjay Singh said, “This government saw a barrage of scams too. There was the DHFL scam that cost the public 42,000 crores by cheating 17 banks. DHFL, at the same time, donated 29 crores to the BJP. But the ED, CBI, Police never felt like investigating it. ABG Shipyard scammed the nation of 22,842 crores and cheated 28 banks. This is the ‘muft ki rewari’ given by the Prime Minister. The list does not end here. There are 50 fugitive offenders who have fled the country. They owed a debt worth 68,607 crore and it was written-off. They have looted the country but the Central Government is showing generosity towards them. Since yesterday, the BJP leaders have been questioning the services given to the public free of cost as it can leave the country in ruins and the economy can collapse. I want to ask the Prime Minister and BJP why they are putting the economic stability of the country at risk to favour a few individuals?”
He asserted, “It was disclosed through an RTI that the total amount is around Rs 12 lakh 40 thousand crores out of which Rs 11 lakh which was in the form of a debt owed by a few billionaires was written off by this government. Since yesterday, they are also trying to set a narrative that out of the total amount, Rs 8 lakh crores have already been recovered. I was shocked that senior anchors and journalists of the news channels were also speaking the language of the BJP. I want to request the media to not fall for the traps and lies of the BJP which stands for Bharatiya Jhoota Party.”
He added, “In the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State of Union Ministry of Finance Bhagwat Karad answered an unstarred question. It was on National Company Law Tribunal under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 through negotiated settlement/ compromise through sale of NPA bankwise details of amounts of loans written-off by PSBs during the last five financial years as per RBI data. Public Sector Banks have recovered Rs Eighty Six Nine Hundred and Eight Six crore in written-off loan accounts. These are the words of a minister in the Central Government and not mine.”
Shri Sanjay SIngh said, “Yesterday, people on various news channels were getting confused between NPA and write-off. NPAs are bad loans which occur when a company defaults in repayments of the debt they owe. Write-off is an action of the bank to remove the NPAs from the balance sheets when the debtors do not repay the amount despite numerous warnings. The banks waive off the loan out of helplessness. The BJP is saying that the loan is merely being written-off and the loan has only been removed from the balance sheet. They accused me of misleading the people and said that they can put them back on the balance sheet. But when asked about the amount of money taken back, it is merely Rs 86 thousand crores out of Rs 12 lakh crores. This essentially means that the loan has been waived-off. It is actually the Bharatiya Jhoota Party which is misleading the people.”
He added, “They should put the amount recovered from the NPA in the country and also the amount recovered from the written-off loan. The BJP is betraying the country and I want to inform the people that they have caused a huge damage to the economy of the country. Our leader Shri Arvind Kejriwal raised this concern because the banks of the country are left with no money because of which the burden of tax on common man has increased.”
He continued, “The youth want to serve the country as a soldier for 19 years but the Central Government said that it does not have money. They brought the Agniveer scheme against their wishes. There is a need to increase the defence budget but instead the Central Government reduced the budget by Rs Sixty-three thousand crores. And they have the audacity to call themselves deshbhakts. 22 crore people applied for Central Government jobs but only 7 lakh people were employed. It is also possible that this data is false if it is verified fairly. It is the BJP Government’s data. Mothers and sisters have appealed to reduce the inflation because they are paying extravagant amounts of money to buy basic commodities like milk but the government says that it doesn’t have money. Same statement is made to the farmers when they ask for MSP on their crops.”
He said, “In such circumstances, Shri Arvind Kejriwal is working tirelessly to help the people of Delhi and give them some relief. In Punjab, Sardar Bhagwant Mann’s government is providing 300 units of electricity free of cost to every family. We are making the same guarantee to the people of Gujarat but the BJP is trying to belittle Shri Arvind Kejriwal and common man by saying that they are getting muft ki rewari. But when the Prime MInister gives a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh crore to a friend and writes-off debt worth Rs 12 lakh crores owed by all his friends, isn’t that muft ki rewari? If the people get education and healthcare free of cost from their own money which they gave through taxes, it becomes muft ki rewari.”
Senior AAP Leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shri Sanjay Singh concluded, “Yesterday, I was listening to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and she said that they are ready for debate and discussion. I find that ludicrous because when the Parliament was in session and we requested to conduct a debate on inflation on the top of our voices, you kicked me out of the house. They suspended me but I am fine with it. It was only after Shri Arvind Kejriwal exposed the BJP that the Finance Minister got up from deep sleep. I am thankful to her that she is ready for a debate. I demand from her to conduct a 12-day long special session of the Parliament on inflation. All the 10 MPs of the AAP will remain present for the entire time for discussion. We will put an end to your hypocrisy of favouring a few of your billionaire friends while you have a problem if we try to give some relief to the common man from inflation.”