Advani calls for countrywide campaign against black money, corruption

NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani urged the citizens on the occasion of the country’s 62nd Republic Day on Wednesday to join a countrywide campaign to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks, and against the rampant corruption.

Addressing the media persons after unfurling the tricolour at a ceremony at his residence here, Advani co-related the issue of black money and graft, saying both are harming the nation.

“The black money in foreign banks that is of no use to the country, and the issue of corruption are interrelated. There should be a nationwide campaign on both the issues. The whole country should be against these,” he said.

Advani also took a jibe at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre for their feeble defence on the black money issue.

“The government had released a comprehensive statement on this issue. In the statement, they have repeatedly said the government does not want to hide anything. But after listening to the entire statement, the situation of the government is such that they neither want to hide anything nor reveal anything on the issue,” he said.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said the government has nothing to hide, and added that India cannot violate secrecy laws to reveal names in the Swiss trail.

“No information can be made available unless there is legal framework and no sovereign country is going to share information on black money. There is a way to get information when Income Tax authorities decide to prosecute offenders,” Mukherjee told a press conference at Shastri Bhavan here.

“We cannot break any international commitments on black money holders because governments will not be ready to part information with us. Swiss government has not shared information on black money with any government so far. The UBS Bank shared data with the US after entering an out of the court settlement under which no prosecution was pursued,” he added.

Advani also praised the youth wing of the BJP, and party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley for undertaking the flag-hoisting rally to Srinagar.

“We took this movement to Lal Chowk to unfurl the national flag there. The people who have been arrested during this movement have brought the issue to the fore. With a lot of courage, the youth wing of our party and the Leaders of Opposition of both the Houses have revived the question of complete unification of Jammu and Kashmir in front of the country,” he said.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha national president Anurag Thakur is leading the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra, which was scheduled to reach Srinagar today.

The Yatra was expected to cover 3,037 km and enter the State on the afternoon of January 24 at Pathankot. (ANI)