The Congress on Wednesday slammed the government on the issue of bringing back black money, saying it should come out with the entire list of names and not be vindictive.
Earlier on Tuesday, Modi government had announced its decision of naming some of the black-money account holders' names in the Supreme Court after Diwali. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had said the revelations could potentially embarrass the Congress party.
"I can assure you there is no embarrassment I (BJP) will have when all the names are disclosed. There is some embarrassment the Congress party will have because of those names," he had said.
The Opposition has reacted sharply to his comment and has warned the government against blackmailing them.
"We want to know the entire list. Do not blackmail and threaten us. The Congress party is not going to succumb to any blackmailing," party spokesperson Ajay Maken told the media.
He said the government should not indulge in half truths.
"The government should come out with all names. It should not be a vindictive list. All names should come," he added.
Maken said the people of the country do not just want to know the names. "They are waiting to know how the money will come back to India."
Maken also fired salvos at the BJP for the Prime Minister's statement on Monday, when he declared to his Union council of ministers that the central government would reveal some names provided by foreign countries where Indian bureaucrats and politicians have stashed their black money.
"Kuch naam batayenge (we will reveal some names)," Indian Express quoted Modi as saying at his dinner party on Monday. Maken dared the BJP government to list out all the names instead of being selective about it.
"We also tell them not to limit the declaration of names only to 136 individuals. We want to tell the BJP and the Prime Minister that half truth is not the truth. They should not go for selective and vindictive leakages. They should come out with all the names," Zee news quoted Maken as saying.
Recalling Modi's Lok Sabha election campaigns, where he had claimed that if the black money sham is disclosed, it infuse it back into the economy, to eradicate poverty from India, Maken took a swipe at the BJP government.
"People of the country including me are waiting for Rs 15 lakh to come into their accounts as was promised by Modi ji," Maken said.
AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh also posted a similar reaction on Twitter:
FM instead of bluffing people should tell us when he is depositing 3 L in a/c of every citizen as promised by Modi in his campaign speeches.
— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) October 22, 2014Earlier this month, the government had denied disclosing names of those facing investigation in the black money sham saying it will violate India's double taxation avoidance agreement with the nations that have provided the list of names.
