BENGALURU: Senior BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking any steps to bring back black money to the tune of $3 trillion stashed in 71 foreign banks as he had promised in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“When other countries have taken action against their leaders by approaching the United Nations, Modi has not taken any action, even against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. Because he cannot let down some of his friends,” he alleged.
“The BJP cannot take action against corruption as the workers are honest, but the policy-making is a bluff,” he said after releasing a book -- Paper In, Money Out -- authored by Sree Iyer and Jagdish Shetty in Bengaluru. The book release programme was organised by Virat Hindustan Sangam.
The former Union minister suggested that the authors send the book to Modi so that the latter can get a start to take the country on a better economic path. Swamy also attacked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as he felt that the Finance Ministry was being managed by officials of the Prime Minister’s Office.
‘Abolish income tax’
Swamy reiterated that Income Tax should be abolished as it is a burden on the middle class, especially salaried families. As much as 32% of the country’s GDP comes from agriculture, but it has been exempted from Income Tax. A number of exemptions have been given to some other categories as well, he said.
He suggested that the rate of interest on fixed deposits should be raised to 9% as it will help the middle class.