It is not unknown to any Indian that during 2014 parliament election campaign, BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly promised to bring back the entire unaccounted money from Switzerland and credit everyone account with Rs 15 lakhs. Modiji had even accused the erstwhile Congress government for not recovering black money from Swiss banks. So, it was expected that Modiji would take effective step in his tenure to unearth that black money lying in Swiss bank. So far, such has not taken place. Though the Union Home Minister Amit Shah publicly admitted that the promise of giving Rs 15 lakh to each Indian’s account was an electoral gimmick, he has not said till date that the assurance of recovering black deposits in Swiss Bank was also a stunt. However, in 2018, the BJP government admitted in the parliament that it did not know how much black money was illegally stashed away in foreign banks nor did it have any knowledge about how much is black money generated as a percentage of GDP. (ABP-07-04-18)
However, ten year back, late Kuldip Nayyar, a renowned journalist, informed that black money from India in Swiss banks, according to the Swiss Banking Association report in 2006, amounted to as much as $1,456 billion (approximately Rs 10.9 lakh crores). The amount was reportedly more than the deposits of all other countries put together. And it is 13 times the country’s total foreign debt. With this amount, it is estimated, some 450 million people in India could get Rs 100,000 each. (The Express Tribune, 19 July 2011). According to noted economist Arun Kumar, India’s black economy was estimated in 2017 to be 62% of GDP – generating about Rs 93 lakh crore of revenue (or USD 14 trillion). It is larger than the income generated by agriculture and industry put together, which is about 39% of GDP. It is larger than the size of the government (Centre plus states) spending, which is about 27% of GDP. (The Wire-05-05-17). Notably, in its response to a Central Information Commission (CIC) order asking the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to provide details of black money brought back from abroad within 15 days, the PMO Sunday refused to share the details citing a provision of the RTI Act that bars disclosure of information that may impede investigation and prosecution of offenders. (Indian Express-25-11-18) The Finance Ministry has declined to share Swiss bank accounts details of Indians saying it is covered under “confidentiality provisions” of a tax treaty signed between India and Switzerland. In reply to another RTI query, the ministry also refused to disclose the details of black money received from other foreign countries. Also the BJP Finance Ministry had declined to share Swiss bank accounts details of Indians saying it is covered under “confidentiality provisions” of a tax treaty signed between India and Switzerland. (Business Today 29-12-19) Thus it is obvious that the BJP government is in no mood to reveal either the figures of black money or the names of black money holders since black wealth is held mostly by ‘influential’ people in the fields of business, commerce and bourgeois vote politics.
Now when millions of Indians are devastated by successive waves of deadly covid 19 and utter failure on the part of the BJP-led central government in every sphere-healthcare, vaccine to economy-has caused countless unemployed to go hungry, income of the toing millions plummeting steadily and over 22 crore pushed to poverty, most of the corporate sharks and monopolist giants have doubled their wealth. Not only that. As high as Rs 20,700 crores have flown to Swiss Bank accounts in 2020. It’s highest in thirteen years. And most surprisingly, the BJP government is arguing that the money transported from India to Swiss bank is not black money. (ABP 20-06-21) If that money is really not black money then why the concerned people do not keep them in Indian banks? Why they take the trouble to stash it at Swiss banks? Are not the government aware of the illicit routes of shifting black money accumulated through tax evasion, tax frauds, under-invoicing of goods shipped abroad and hawala transactions (money transfer which takes place outside the traditional banking system between two or more Hawala dealers in two countries)? If the government is serious about cracking down on black money, why does it not focus on such illicit financial flows and frustrate the process of black accumulation? Why is it hesitant to divulge the names who are holding black money?
The answer is plain and simple. Neither the BJP, nor the Congress, the two most trusted parties of the ruling monopolists, is inclined to recover black money from Swiss banks. Why? Because black money is generated by capitalism. The bourgeois governments whether run by the BJP or the Congress or any other servitor of the ruling class cannot go against their masters. Rather these parties are appointed by and indicted tin power by the ruling monopolists to serve their vested class interest. Even a part of this black money is channelized to fund the parties. So, to dupe people with a view to winning elections, these parties often raise voice against black money. So suffering people need to understand this trickery and treachery of the political managers of ruling capitalism.
Black Money stashed in Swiss Bank highest in pandemic period
