In an exclusive interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire on the eve of the launch of his new book, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was deputy chairman of the Planning Commission during the UPA’s decade in office, reveals that he advised both the then prime minister and the then finance minister not to implement one of the most controversial decisions taken by the Manmohan Singh government – the proposal to retrospectively amend the Income Tax Act 50 years after it was passed.
He says that in 2012, he separately advised Pranab Mukherjee and, thereafter, Manmohan Singh, against doing this to overturn the Supreme Court’s Vodafone judgement. Unfortunately, he says, they did not heed his advice.
