'Thank God they spared the peon': BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha's stinger at Modi government over PNB scam

He said that as the ultimate owner of the PSU bank, the Centre should have had a clue to what was going on.

This is not the first time Shatrughan Sinha has criticised the Modi government over the PNB scam. (File picture)

BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha tore into his party's government again on Monday, this time poking fun at it for blaming auditor for the PNB scam involving diamantaire Nirav Modi. He also raised questions over why the Centre had been caught unawares over the scam.

Sinha levelled his criticism at the Narendra Modi government in a couple of tweets. "Our learned people, after blaming everyone from Nehru regime to Congress misrule, have said that Auditors are to blame for PNB scam," read Sinha's tweet, in reference to a recent statement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

"…thank God they spared the peon," he added.

Our learned people, after blaming everyone from Nehru regime to Congress misrule, have said that Auditors are to blame for PNB scam..thank God they spared the peon. The moot question is..as the actual owners of PNB, what was the Govt. doing for at least 4 of those 6 years...1>2 — Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) February 26, 2018

Sinha also pointed to the fact that Punjab National Bank is a public sector bank, the responsibility and management of which lies in the hands of the Central government. "The moot question is..as the actual owners of PNB, what was the Govt. doing for at least 4 of those 6 years...1>2," he said in his tweet.

Sinha, an actor-turned-politician who is known for his oratory and wit, then used an Urdu couplet to level stinging criticism. "Tu idhar udhar ki na baat kar ye bata ki qafila kyun luta mujhe rahzanon se gila nahin teri rahbari ka saval hai (Do not beat about the bush, tell me why the robbery took place. I have do not have much a of complaint against the robbers, but the credibility of your leadership is at stake)," he said in a second tweet.

"Do we have any answers Sir? With due respect, as they say - 'Taali kaptaan ko to gaali bhi kaptaan ko' (If the captain wants the applause, he also deserves the curses)," he added.

We wish to ask for answers through this couplet

"t? idhar udhar k? na baat kar ye bat? ki q?fila kyuuñ luT?

mujhe rahzanoñ se gil? nah?ñ
ter? rahbar? k? sav?l hai"

Do we have any answers Sir? With due respect, as they say - "Taali kaptaan ko to gaali bhi kaptaan ko". — Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) February 26, 2018

This is hardly the first time that Shatrughan Sinha has openly criticised the Narendra Modi government or its principals. Just on the PNB scam, Sinha had questioned why Nirav Modi had been part of the delegation that met with the Prime Minister during the World Economic Forum summit at Davos. 

(With inputs from agencies)