PM: I-T raids as per law, not part of political vendetta

New Delhi, April 19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the recent Income Tax raids on certain politicians were not part of “political vendetta” and things were happening as per the law.

In an interview to a news channel, Modi said the raids had yielded proof of corruption, including siphoning of money from schemes meant for the most vulnerable sections of society like children and expectant mothers.

Responding to a question on loan defaulters Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi escaping the country, Modi said when they realised that under the present government they would have to return the loan, they escaped taking benefit of the system. “In 2019, they have been brought to the steps of jails. After 2019, they will be in jail,” Modi said.

He said: “Why aren’t the critics talking about the fact that some have lost their cases on extradition while others are rotting in jail?” He asserted that the BJP will return to power with greater numbers and said even the NDA allies would do better than 2014 polls. It will be a complete majority, Modi said.

Meanwhile, addressing a traders' convention at Talkatora Stadium, Modi today promised collateral-free loan of up to Rs 50 lakh, Rs 10-lakh accidental insurance to GST-registered entities, credit card facility for traders, a pension scheme for small shopkeepers and a new retail policy.

Modi said Opposition Congress abused businessmen by calling all of them ‘chor’ (thieves), while Mahatma Gandhi used to take pride in hailing from the businessmen community of Baniya.

The BJP government, he said, has stood by traders in thick and thin and will upon re-election set up a Rashtriya Vyapar Kalyan Board (National Traders' Welfare Board) to address their issues.

He said the Board would work as a bridge between the government and traders, who have a major role in the country's gross domestic product.

He asked traders to vote for the BJP if they wanted a Rashtriya Vyapari Club. He said he has in the five years of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre worked to simplify lives and businesses of traders by scraping 1,500 archaic laws, simplifying processes and providing easy credit. "Within five years of BJP government at the Centre, the country has become the sixth strongest economy in the world. We have to make it an economy of $10 trillion," he said.

Modi said processes had been simplified, inspector raj largely checked and personal interference in income tax assessment removed. "GST, which was brought in July 2017 by amalgamating 17 different central and state taxes, has made doing business transparent, ended state check-posts and resulted in doubling of registered traders," he said. — TNS/PTI

Woos traders With collateral-free loan

• PM Narendra Modi on Friday promised collateral-free loan of up to Rs 50 lakh, Rs 10-lakh accidental insurance to GST-registered entities, credit card facility for traders, a pension scheme for small shopkeepers and a new retail policy
• He said the Congress abused businessmen by calling all of them 'chor', while Mahatma Gandhi used to take pride in hailing from the businessmen community of Baniya.