Now, don't strip public for 'benami' properties: Thackeray tells Modi

The editorial alleged that the move will go the way of the Union government’s demonetization decision, and end up safeguarding the rich while the poor get crushed.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray (File|PTI)
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray (File|PTI)

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena’s opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial decision making got shriller Wednesday, with an editorial in the regional party’s newspaper Saamna launching a stinging attack on the Central government’s planned initiative against proxy property holding (called benami properties).
The editorial alleged that the move will go the way of the Union government’s demonetization decision, and end up safeguarding the rich while the poor get crushed.

“Modi led a surgical strike against black money.. but the truth is not a penny has been recovered. The rich of the country have incurred not even a dime’s loss after the demonetisation decision but the common man has been harried,” the editorial said.

“Now what does the government plan to do against benami properties? We hope that the middle class citizens are not crushed under the harsh steps taken by the government like what happened after demonetisation. Hope that the real benami property holders do not legalize their properties while the common man is stripped naked,” it said. 

Once an announcement on benami properties is made, those possessing proxy-held estates will convert all of it into legal holdings within 24 hours, like the hundreds of crores of rupees converted into laundered money after demonetization, the editorial added.

The Shiv Sena mouthpiece suggested the government was better advised to do something to restore the properties of Kashmiri Hindus who have abandoned their lands due to terrorism in Kashmir.

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