Jaitley fooling people on loan waiver to capitalists: Congress

New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) Countering Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's claim that the government has not waived off bank loans of big capitalists, Congress on Thursday charged him with "fooling people" as the regime had only sought to benefit "a select group of cronies" by waiving off their dues.

The Congress also said the "banking saga" of the government has all the ingredients of a full-fledged Shakespearean tragedy.

"Out of the three protagonists, the government as the majority shareholder and the corporate borrower are wearing their victimhood as a badge of honour. Whereas, the real victim, the customer, is the unsung hero coerced into parting with his money.

"In this saga, the crony friends of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi are strong and the common people of India are weak," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

"Modi's government has continuously and constantly benefitted a select group of cronies by waiving off their loans, even though the NPAs in the banks are piling up, thus putting the bank deposits and the state exchequer at risk."

Jaitley on Tuesday denied that the government had waived off bank loans of big capitalists and asserted that proceedings had been initiated against 12 largest defaulters for time-bound recovery of dues totalling Rs 175,000 crore.

Singhvi also said top 50 corporates owe Rs 8.35 lakh crore to the banks and out of those, three are top Gujarat-based companies.

"The BJP government has already waived loans of wilful defaulters worth Rs 1,88,287 crore in the past three years. Why is Jaitley fooling the intelligence of 125 crore Indians by saying that there is no loan waiver?.

"The Modi government provides certificates of just one paisa to farmers of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, as 'farm loan waiver', but waived Rs 1.88 crore of bank loans of its rogue crony friends."

Singhvi also hit out at the government for not giving any roadmap or time frame for bank recapitalisation.

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