Congress slams Modi for evading questions

The Congress party on Tuesday virtually dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reveal the names of those who have black money while rubbishing claims made by Mr Modi in an interview to a TV channel on Monday.

Addressing a press conference the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and AICC general secretary, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said the Prime Minister did not reply to a question on black money. “They (BJP leaders) used to say that our government did not move forward on black money, hiding names because a big leader had kept money abroad.”

“Now, Mr Prime Minister, reveal the names of such leaders, put them behind bars... Why are you delaying Who is this big leader The nation wants to know.”

Mr Azad also pointed out how Mr Modi ignored a question on depositing `15 lakh into each citizen’s account, something he had promised during his election campaign.

While observing that the PM was on the defensive on the issues of sky rocketing prices of essential commodities and growing unemployment during the interview, he justified the disruption in Parliament on the issues of huge corruption scams in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Despite that, the Rajya Sabha had passed more bills than the Lok Sabha where the BJP-led NDA has a majority, Mr Azad said.

He asked why the PM is not checking hardliners in his own party, like Sakshi Maharaj, Yogi Adityanath and his ministers for polarising people on communal lines.

Mr Azad said the PM’s advice to the media to ignore such leaders means nothing but let them do what they want.

On foreign policy, Mr Azad rubbished the PM’s claim insisting that India’s ties with China have worsened and infiltration and terror attacks from across the Pakistan border has escalated.

He said that the more the Prime Minister meets leaders of neighbouring countries, like China, the “more they go against us”.