Thomas Isaac slams PM Modi for remarks on gold smuggling against LDF govt

Alappuzha: Former finance minister and CPM leader T M Thomas Isaac has come out against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks against the LDF government, citing the gold smuggling case, at the Yuvam conclave in Kochi on Monday.

“Can Modi stoop to such low levels? Aren’t the Customs, whose job is to prevent gold smuggling, and the Enforcement Directorate, whose job is to nab the culprits who evade Customs and smuggle gold, Central agencies? First, Modi must admit that gold smuggling is a lapse on his part and then castigate others,” Thomas Isaac said in a Facebook post.

“A sizeable part of black money is kept overseas. It can’t be brought to India through legal channels. The role of gold arises there. If the dollar is given abroad, the smugglers will bring gold worth that money to India. The holders of black money will always be willing to give a handsome margin for it.

With the rise in import duty in recent times, jewellery shops have started smuggling gold to India largely. Are not the Central Government and the states ruled by the BJP in connivance in this?” Thomas Isaac asked.

Here is the excerpt from the Facebook post of Thomas Isaac (originally in Malayalam)

Can Modi stoop to such low levels? The meeting to converse with the youth was not a political one. But listen to the statements that he made there: ‘The Central Government is working hard to augment exports from the country. But some people here are engaged day and night in gold smuggling. But they can’t hide this from the youth.’

Aren’t the Customs, whose job is to prevent gold smuggling, and the Enforcement Directorate, whose job is to nab the culprits who evade Customs and smuggle gold, Central agencies? First, Modi must admit that gold smuggling is a lapse on his part and then castigate others.

It's been three years since the Central agencies started investigating the gold smuggling case in Kerala. But did you probe who sent it and to whom? Aren’t the middlemen in this the dearest people of the BJP today? Now an attempt is being made to tarnish the LDF government using them. And here is a prime minister who parrots the same.

The report published by the Union Finance Minister titled ‘Smuggling in India in 2021-22’ says that around 350 tonnes of gold are smuggled into India. A total of 37 per cent of this is through Myanmar and Nepal. This gold reaches the traders in Gujarat and other states, not through Kerala, isn’t it? The main destination of this is Gujarat.

Next comes Maharashtra, with the most number of airports and seaports enabling smuggling. Then only comes Kerala. It is the duty of the Central Government to prevent the same. The Central Government should do it. The lion’s share of gold brought into India is for turning black money into white. Or it’s for funding terrorism.

Earlier, a normal NRI too used to make use of the hawala route to take advantage of the difference between the official currency exchange rate and the market rate. However, with the rupee value collapsing in the aftermath of the reforms, there doesn’t exist much difference between the market value and official value. Thus, turning black money into white became the chief motive behind gold smuggling.

A sizeable part of black money is kept overseas. It can’t be brought to India through legal channels. The role of gold arises there. If the dollar is given abroad, the smugglers will bring gold worth that money to India. The holders of black money will always be willing to give a handsome margin for it. With the rise in import duty in recent times, jewellery shops have started smuggling gold to India in a major way as well. Aren’t the Central Government and the states ruled by the BJP in connivance in this? Will a person believe that gold is a commodity that can be taken to any part of the country without any document?

The GST law stipulates that an e-way bill is needed to transport any commodity worth more than Rs 50,000. The e-way bill should show from whom the commodity is going to whom, what its price is, and whether its tax has been paid. But gold doesn’t need this. All that is required is a self-attested statement in possession, saying that the gold is being taken to be shown to such-and-such person or firm in such-and-such place. It is the loophole in the GST law that makes gold smuggling easy once it passes the Customs barrier.

This law was put in place after a lot of discussion. Does the prime minister know that Kerala was dead against it from the very beginning? But BJP-ruled states led by UP and Gujarat tried to earnestly stall Kerala’s moves in this regard.

Their contention was that if the movement of gold became non-secretive, it will create security issues. A sub-committee was constituted. I headed it. At last, on Maharashtra’s mediation, it was agreed to recommend in (GST) Council that states will have the discretion to make e-way bills mandatory or not for gold. However, so far, it has not been made into a law.

Before making loud talk about gold smuggling, declare that an amendment will be brought to the GST law. BJP leaders are the major dealers in gold smuggling for non-terrorism purposes.