Union Minister Prakash Javadekar jabbed Rahul Gandhi over his 'RBI list' attack.
A day after Rahul Gandhi attacked the ruling BJP after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a list of 50 wilful defaulters accused of cheating banks, saying the government had hidden the list from parliament because it included "friends" of the ruling party, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar dismissed his claims. Mr Javadekar said the top Congress leader "should take tuition" from his party colleague and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram to understand the difference between "write-off and waive-off".
"@RahulGandhi should take tuition from @PChidambaram_IN on the difference between 'write off' and 'waive off'. @narendramodi govt has not waived off any loan. 'Write off' is a normal accounting process. It doesn't stop recovery or action against defaults," Mr Javadekar tweeted.
The RBI on Tuesday released a list of the top 50 wilful defaulters accused of scamming the country's banks. Business tycoons Mehul Choksi, the Jhunjhunwala brothers, and Vijay Mallya are among the prominent individuals linked to companies named by the RBI. The RBI said outstanding loans amounting to Rs 68,607 crore taken out by the 50 firms have been written off till September 30, 2019.
A "write-off" is an accounting term used to denote assets whose value becomes zero. Written-off loans refer to debt that has been factored as a loss even though the lender may continue attempts to recover it.
Hitting out at the government, Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi along with a video: "I asked a simple question in parliament - tell me the names of 50 biggest bank scammers. Finance Minister refused to reply. Now RBI has put names of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and other BJP friends in the list. This is why they hid the truth from parliament."
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too had rebutted Mr Gandhi on his allegations in a 13-tweet retort late Tuesday night. She said his allegations are an attempt to "mislead people in a brazen manner" and sensationalise facts.