New Delhi: Congress today virtually dared the Prime Minister to take stringent action against those having black money and those involved in the AgustaWestland chopper deal and assured the party's support in the matter.
"What he is doing there? When will we see the money being brought back? Who is stopping the Prime Minister from nabbing the culprits? We will support him," Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.
He was asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on the AgustaWestland issue, maintaining that a "sin" has been committed and those behind them have had a "big protective cover".
"The case about Agusta helicopters. I can't deny it and I believe that we have the right to doubt that people behind this are very experienced. They have perfectly practiced the art of doing wrong deeds. They are very experienced and knowledgeable. And one can also smell the fact that such a thing wouldn't have been done without a big protective shield," the Prime Minister had said.
On the black money issue, Azad said that Modi when in the Opposition used to say that the government was not acting against unearthing black money as a top leader's money was stashed abroad.
"It used to be said about us that (our) government was not moving forward on the issue of black money... because some names were being concealed, because their big leader's money is (stashed) abroad. Prime Minister, now we only are saying that bring out their names, publish those, hang them, punish them, put them in jail. Why is the delay now? Who is that person? Let the country know it... Hence, the honourable Prime Minister had no answer to this (question)," he said.
He said the government should act sternly against those having black money. He said it should reveal the names of such persons and take sternest action against them.
Azad's remarks came on a day when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told black money holders to come clean by September 30.
Offering black money holders one last chance to come clean, Jaitley said information on assets disclosed during the one-time compliance window will not be shared with any other authority.
