Govt rubbishes charges of Ramdev, Hazare on blackmoney

Government today rejected charges of yoga guru Ramdev and Anna Hazare that it was not taking action on unearthing blackmoney, saying it had signed bilateral agreements with many countries to bring tax evasion to light.

 "We have a proper action...It makes no sense to say that government is not speaking about the steps it is taking to eradicate corruption and blackmoney," Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni told reporters outside Parliament House.

Spelling out the steps taken to unearth blackmoney, the Minister said the government has signed many bilateral agreements with foreign countries with the purpose of bringing tax evasion to light. She also said the issue was raised in Parliament many times and during his tenure as finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee had even issued a white paper on the matter.

Soni was answering questions on yoga guru's protest against blackmoney. Giving a slogan 'Congress hatao, desh bachao' (Remove Congress, Save the Country), Ramdev ended his six-day protest today calling for defeat of Congress in the next elections.