Those who raise questions against government are raided by central agencies: Congress

The Congress on Friday accused the BJP-led government of targeting its political opponents, saying whoever raises questions against the government is raided by central agencies if the person is in opposition and sent to 'Margadarshak Mandal' if in the party.

"The current government has made a process that whoever raises questions based on truth is targeted. If the person is in opposition, raids are conducted by the Income Tax department or Enforcement Directorate against him. If the person is in the party then he/she is sent to 'Margadarshak Mandal'," party leader Gourav Vallabh said at a press conference at Congress headquarters here.

He alleged that post demonetisation a jeweller in Surat had made sales of Rs 96.3 crore between 8.30 pm to 12 midnight on November 8, 2016.

"In a shocking revelation, it has come out that a case of massive unaccounted deposits has again unfolded in the most undignified manner in front of us. This week, the Vice-President of the Surat BJP unit and ex-Income Tax Officer PVS Sarma has come out with serious allegations of tax evasion in the wake of demonetization against a prominent jeweller based out of Surat. The jeweller in discussion had made sales of Rs 96.3 crores post 8.30 pm on November 8, 2016," he said.

"Subsequently, between November 10 and 12, the jeweller deposited close to Rs 110 crore cash in the banks. The total tax paid as per the allegations is only Rs 80 lakh. What is surprising is that rather than acting on the complaint, the Income-tax department has been after the complainant itself," he added.

Vallabh further said that Congress earlier raised questions on how Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank (ADCB) did transactions of Rs 745 crore in the first five days after demonetisation. "This was not 'notebandi' (demonetisation) but 'notebadli' (conversion of black money to white money)," he alleged.

"We had asked the government that Gujarat's 11 co-operative banks in the first five days after demonetisation, Rs 3,118.51 crore were exchanged. There was no reply," he added.

Vallabh further said that due to the impact of demonetisation the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate fell from 8.3 per cent in 2016-17 to 4.2 per cent in 2019-20.

"On November 8, 2016, the central government enforced demonetisation. Around 150 persons died by queuing up in lines. Contribution of manufacturing in GDP fell from 15.6 per cent in 2015 to 13.7 per cent in 2019. Over 3.70 crore people lost their employment after demonetisation," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )