Amit Shah today responded to allegations that his son Jay Shah, an entrepreneur, enjoyed a big upswing in his business after the BJP came to power in 2014. The question of corruption does not arise, the BJP chief told the news channel Aaj Tak.
“If you have documents to prove your allegations, bring them to court,” Mr Shah said, emphasising that none of his son’s companies “did even one rupee worth of business” with the government.
Jay Shah has sued news website The Wire for 100 crores for reporting that his firm’s revenues escalated by 16,000 times after the BJP came to power. The report also questioned allegedly unsecured loans given to Jay Shah’s firms, including from a state-run firm that reports to the Power Ministry.
according to the Congress, is an “excellent example” of crony capitalism.
Mr Shah said: “The business was of commodity trade which is a high value low profit venture. If a company’s turnover becomes Rs. 1 crore, its profit does not become Rs. 1 crore…It is unfair to say there was an over 16,000 times jump in profit…say what the turnover was…It makes it seem like the turnover was huge but it wasn’t.”
The BJP president added that after achieving a turnover of Rs. 80 crore, his son’s company suffered a loss of Rs. 1.5 crore. “All the payments were made through cheques. There is no question of money laundering.” The loans, he said, were not unsecured but a line of credit.
An array of BJP leaders have already put up a strong defence of Mr Shah’s son. Union minister Piyush Goyal said early into the controversy that Jay Shah’s companies “are legitimate and acquired loans transparently and paid commercial rates of interest for them.”
On Thursday, the BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said there must be enough evidence for the allegations to be worth investigating. “If there are corruption allegations against anyone, necessary inquiry should be done and action can be taken accordingly. But there has to be prima facie evidence of wrong-doing,” RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said.
