NEW DELHI: Looking to turn Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's charge of money-making against foreign minister Sushma Swaraj on its head, finance minister Arun Jaitley took a hard dig at Congress's first family saying it was perhaps not aware that children of most families had to work for a living.

Responding to the suggestion that employment of Swaraj's daughter in a law firm hired by controversial ex-IPL chief Lalit Modi represented a conflict of interest, Jaitley said, "There are still many honest people in this country whose children have to work for a living. The generations of a family which has dominated this country's politics have not worked for a living. They have learnt the art of living comfortably without working, some of us have not."

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The finance minister also argued that Congress's intent was to block economic legislation at all costs under the pretext of the IPL controversy. Responding to Rahul's reference to the message of Mahatma Gandhi's three monkeys being subverted by the Narendra Modi government, Jaitley said, "You are fond of (the story) three monkeys, but don't make a monkey of the country."


TOI illustration by Ajit Ninan.

"In order to sabotage the Indian growth story, their (Congress) best chance was: let me go back on what I had promised - the Goods and Services Tax. So, what was announced by them in 2006 and introduced in 2011, all the proposals which their finance ministers had accepted, are not acceptable to them," the finance minister said.

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Wrapping up the government's response to the adjournment motion, Jaitley said real and meaningful action against controversial ex-IPL chief Lalit Modi had only begun after NDA assumed office with a request for a red corner notice against him sent to Interpol.

Seeking to punch holes in the Congress arguments, the finance minister said, "The truth is to the contrary that you took steps where you could never succeed. The correct steps that is registration of case under PMLA, activation of that case, summoning him in that case for the first time, getting a non-bailable warrant against him, moving for a red corner alert against him - these are all steps which will be taken now."

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Before the NDA came to power in May 2014, all that was pending against Lalit Modi was a "make-believe light blue coloured notice" which, given to domestic airports for a man living in London, made no sense. Jaitley said the action initiated during the UPA regime did not amount to making Lalit Modi eligible for extradition.

Jaitley said the former IPL chief was being investigated for bank transfers without requisite RBI permission when the IPL tournament was moved from India to South Africa in 2009 due to the national election. "At best, he would have had to pay some fines, he was not a fugitive," said the minister, saying that the so-called action during the UPA regime was mere eyewash.



Focusing on Rahul's reference to IPL as the centre of black money, Jaitley challenged the leader to establish that UPA had pursued Lalit Modi with any diligence. "You can simply use words 'the centre of black money' or 'the symbol of black money' but what steps did your government take to bring black money lying abroad into India? We have taken some hard steps."

Reminding the Congress of a long list of scams during its tenure, Jaitley said the truth of Coalgate was established by the revenues the government had earned by auctions.