There is no end to proposed sources of fund for Congress party’s minimum income guarantee scheme or NYAY. After the advisors of the party claimed that the scheme will be funded through rising tax and inflation, today Rahul Gandhi proposed a new source of fund for the scheme.
While participating at a student interaction event in Pune, Rahul Gandhi was taking questions from students gathered there. One of the students asked the Congress president how the NYAY scheme will be funded. To this, Rahul Gandhi replied that the scheme will be funded by money recovered from loan defaulters.
WATCH: CP @RahulGandhi in conversation with our changemakers in Pune. #RahulGandhiStudentsInteraction https://t.co/WpDME1pANO
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 5, 2019
Rahul Gandhi said, “have you heard of a man called Nirav Modi? have you heard of a man called Mehil Choksi? Vijay Mallya? And the best of them all, have you heard of a man called Anil Ambani? Anil Ambani was given Rs 30,000 crores, Mehul Choksi Rs 35,000 crores, Vijay Mallya Rs 10,000 crores”. Then he asks, “how many jobs has Anil Ambani given this country, how many jobs has Nirav Modi given this country? 3 lakhs 50 thousand crores is the amount of money that was forgiven to the 15 richest businesspeople in this country”.
Rahul Gandhi added that Anil Ambani’s Rs 45,000 crore loan was written off, Nirav Modi ran away to London after taking Rs 30,000 crore and nothing happens to him. While the loans of students and farmers are not forgiven. He said, “there is no shortage of money in they system, the money will come from Mr Anil Ambani, the money will come from the people who have dominated the banking system, and not given anything in return, crony capitalism.”
The Congress president also said that later on the scheme will fund itself, as when people get Rs 72,000 per month, they will spend it, thereby kickstarting the economic activities in the country. He alleged that the economy is stagnant at present. He assured that taxes will not be hiked to fund the scheme, and money will not come from the middle class.
Rahul Gandhi’s explanation about funding the scheme means that the NYAY scheme will be funded by money recovered from loan defaulters. But that is a highly questionable proposal from the Congress party, as money owed by various loan defaulters do no belong to the government. The amounts of bad debt belong to banks and creditors, and when that money is eventually recovered, that will come to banks and creditors, not the government exchequer. And the money lent by banks actually belong to depositors, but Rahul Gandhi is proposing to use that money to fund the Congress party’s pet scheme. This means, although he said that money will not come from the middle class, he is proposing to use the money that is owed the middle-class bank depositors for funding the NYAY.
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi owe money to Punjab National Bank, Vijay Mallya and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Telecom owes money to consortiums of various banks and suppliers. Rahul Gandhi proposes to recover such money stuck in bad debt, but instead of returning the money to the lenders and vendors, he is proposing to use that money to pay Rs 72,000 per month to 5 crore families.
While talking about the scheme, Rahul Gandhi also contradicted his own advisors for the scheme. Just a day ago, Gandhi family loyalist and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda had said that NYAY scheme will have to be funded by raising taxes for the middle class. He has said that middle class should not be selfish, they should have a ‘big heart’. In today’s event, Sam Pitroda was also present, and Rahul Gandhi said in his presence that taxes for the middle class will not be raised to fund the scheme.
One of the advisors of the NYAY, economist Abhijit Banerjee had also said that taxes will have to raised and ‘inflation tax’ will have to be reintroduced to fund the scheme. ‘Inflation tax’ means, when government spends more, the inflation rises, which means the value of money at the hand of people goes down. That reduction in value of money is known inflation tax, although it is not a real tax that people have to pay directly, it is an indirect form of tax. But now Rahul Gandhi is saying that the entire NYAY scheme, which will cost Rs 3.60 lakh a year, will be funded from money recovered from ‘15 richest businessman in the country’ and taxes for middle classes will not be increased.
Rahul Gandhi also lied about no action being taken against loan defaulters and bank fraud criminals. Vijay Mallya’s extradition from the UK is in final phases and assets worth more than his loan amount has been already attached by the law enforcement agencies. Proceedings against PNB bank fraudsters Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are also going on. And while Anil Ambani’s Reliance Telecom owes money to creditors and vendors, the government has not shown any leniency towards the company. Recently Anil Ambani was about to be arrested for failing the dues to Ericson, he was rescued by his elder brother Mukesh Ambani who paid the due amount at the last moment. Reliance Telecom is trying to sell its spectrum and other assets for repaying the debt, and has filed for faster resolution through National Company Law Tribunal.
