When any government is close to completing four years in office, it usually faces a tough phase and sometimes tougher questions! It becomes obvious that many of the promises made during the previous elections may not have been fulfilled, anti-incumbency factor starts building up and generally it becomes obvious that whatever faults were found with the previous government, have not been rectified.
The BJP-led NDA government is now facing this phase. Alliance partner openly targeting the BJP, promises such as job-creation and inflation control falling flat, anger growing among masses and big financial misappropriations being discovered. All just like during the previous UPA rule and the government is now seen pushing the blame for all this onto the previous Congress-led UPA regime!
India’s second largest government bank has announced that it had discovered in January that Rs 11,300 crore of taxpayers’ money had been illegally transferred abroad to select customers from a single branch in Mumbai.
The fraud was revealed when Nirav Modi’s companies sought a fresh loan. The officials, who had helped them earlier, had retired and when the bank insisted on guarantees, the companies allegedly said they had used the facility before.
That’s when the bank started investigating.
Nirav Modi has several star clients and brand ambassadors and has boutiques across three continents - in London, New York, Las Vegas, Hawai, Singapore, Beijing and Macau.
“Who is protecting Nirav Modi,” questioned the Congress, as opposition parties accused the government of allowing big fish to get away without answering for crores in public money.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that the Prime Minister’s Office had been in the loop on the Nirav Modi case since July.
Nirav Modi is already being investigated by the CBI, which reportedly put out a lookout notice soon after an FIR was filed on January 31. The agency has received two complaints from PNB against Nirav Modi, alleging fraud worth $1.8 billion. Nirav Modi was raided last month on charges that he and his associates swindled the bank of Rs 280 crore last year
Nirav Modi’s home, showrooms and offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Surat were searched by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday after Punjab National Bank (PNB) complained of staggering fraud at the cost of the taxpayer to benefit the celebrity jeweller and others. Nirav Modi, recently seen in a group photo in Davos with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flew out of India on January 1. State-run PNB on Wednesday reported Rs 11,000 crore fraud by its own officials to help Nirav Modi and others get credit without guarantees and in violation of rules. “We will honour all our bonafide commitments,” said the bank’s CEO Sunil Mehta.
How was Nirav Modi allowed to get away? Why did the CBI not confiscate his passport earlier if he was being investigated for the Rs 280 crore scam? What happened to PM Modi’s promise of ‘Na Khaaunga, Na Khaane Doonga’? (Will not accept illicit money, will not let others take it). All these tough questions are being asked by the opposition now.
The middle class and the taxpaying class of this country is being cheated. Who is responsible for the scam that happened? Will Nirav Modi ever be caught and brought back to the country and will the public money he took away ever be returned? Since the scam has happened in a public sector bank, the above questions will now have to be answered by the government of the day, just pushing the blame to the previous regime will not work.
Mastering the Blame Game
Right from the high level of unemployment among youth to farmer’s suicides and scams in public sector banks; everything continues the way it was during the UPA regime. What happened to PM promise of ‘Na Khaaunga, Na Khaane Doonga’? The government of the day is seen blaming the previous regime for everything that is going wrong. Beyond a certain limit, this is unacceptable to the people who elected the BJP to power with lots of hopes.
