Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said while a big political row was sparked off in Karnataka over Income Tax raids, the fact of the matter was only the “Nephew” of a Minister was searched.
The BJP senior leader accused the opposition, including the Congress and JD-S in Karnataka and Trinamool Chief Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal of paying ‘lip sympathy for federalism’ and destroying it whenever the opportunity arises.
‘Federalism is not merely the Rights of the States. Indian federalism entails India as a “Union of States”. The Rights of the Union are equally important,’ Mr Jaitley said in his blog.
On March 28 in Bengaluru, JD(S) and Congress leaders, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Ministers of the State, assembled outside the Income Tax Office to protest against income tax searches alleging that ministers had been searched.
The best evidence they could provide for was that the “Nephew” of a Minister was searched.
The tax authorities in Bengaluru had issued a press statement which categorically said that no MP, MLA, Minister was searched.
Mr Jaitley said the search was not against any politician or even political workers. The search was only against Contractors and Engineers of the PWD Department of the State.
He said the disproportionality of the reaction of the Congress and the JD-S ‘raises a needle of suspicion’.
‘There is a lurking suspicion due to the disproportionality of the reaction that the protestors were more concerned with regard to the “substance” of the search. Did they have a vicarious pecuniary interest in the substance?
‘Is it a case where the PWD Department pays the Contractors, the Engineers being the collecting agents and the principals of the agents turn protestors? ‘ he said.
The BJP leader said security of India, sovereignty, dealing with terrorism, managing the borders, Custom Check Points, Income Tax enforcement are all amongst the several Constitutional powers of the Union.
If the States stand in way of any of them it is guilty of breaching federal norms, he pointed out.
Referring to Bengal Police intimidating customs officers for checking bags of wife of Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and sitting MP Abhishek Banerjee, Mr Jaitley said ‘Can a State barge its Police into the Customs area and direct the Customs as to what is to be done? This would be a threat to federalism.’
He said many states have stopped giving Police security to Income Tax authorities when they conduct their operations.
‘Alternatively when State Police is asked for, the information is leaked out to the political Government and it reaches the targets of the operations. Tax authorities increasingly have to rely on Central Forces,’ he said.
In the Kashmir Valley recently, searches have conducted under the Governor’s Rule after 17 years, Mr Jaitley said, adding that these taxes are meant for the welfare of the poor.
‘The above illustrates a text book method of the UPA on 2 fronts: use Government money, round trip it through Contractors and beneficiaries and enrich themselves. The second is lip sympathy for federalism and destroy it whenever the opportunity arises,’ he said, adding that this is a very transparent self goal. (UNI)
