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Our Bureau Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s note to the Estimates Committee of Parliament is being used by both the BJP and the Congress to blame each other for the burgeoning NPAs in banks.
While the BJP said the UPA’s mismanagement was the reason for the NPAs, the Congress alleged that despite a warning from Rajan, the Centre failed to take any action.
Quoting Rajan, Textiles Minister Smriti Irani said the UPA attacked the very core of the nation’s banking system. Rajan’s note revealed that between 2006 and 2008, the functioning of the UPA led to increased NPAs, she added. “The note is very revealing. The Congress is the only reason for the NPAs,” she said. She further claimed that the economy was on a sound footing during the Vajpayee regime and the UPA’s policies destroyed it.
The Congress countered her, saying the Narendra Modi government did nothing to address the NPA issue. “When UPA demitted power in 2014, NPAs were at ₹2,83,000 crore. This was containable. Up to March 2018, under this government, the NPAs have reached a staggering ₹12,00,000 crore. Who is responsible for this?” asked the Congress’ media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala.
‘Loot and scoot’
Surjewala added that Rajan, in 2016, had set up a fraud monitoring cell and sent a list of high profile cases to the PMO urging action. “He indicted the PMO but no action was taken,” he said. Citing the Mehul Choksi case, he said “loot and make them scoot” is the prime policy of the Modi government.
Why did the External Affairs Ministry provide a clean chit to Choksi in the ₹23,484-crore PNB scam in May 2017 despite the complaints and evidence being available two years earlier, Surjewala asked. “Why did SEBI give a clean chit to Choksi to help him secure the citizenship of Antigua? Why did the CBI/ED not move Interpol for a warrant against Choksi or provide the requisite evidence of criminal fraud against him? Is it not correct that this deliberate failure on the part of the CBI/ED in providing evidence to Interpol led to Interpol giving a clean chit to Choksi?” he asked.
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