Govt. unnecessarily imposing pressure on nation: Congress

Dubbing the Centre's demonetisation move as 'anti-poor', Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya on Friday said if the government is serious about eliminating the menace of black money then it should attack the illegal cash holders.

Bhattacharya said the government is unnecessarily putting burden on the nation with its hasty decision.

"The government should consider the hardships of the people. If the government is serious then it should attack those having black money. It is the privilege of the people to hear the PM inside the Parliament. He heard the speeches of the opposition but did not give a reply," he said.

Bhattacharya also asked as to why Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not respond to former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh's queries regarding the government's move to demonetise high-value currency notes.

"Jaitley ji is avoiding the real question asked by Manmohan Singh ji. The government should consider these things and should take proper measures on it. Proper measures should be taken so that the people are happy," he added.

Alleging that more than 65 people have lost their lives courtesy the demonetisation drive, Dr. Singh yesterday described the Centre's decision as a case of monumental mismanagement and warned that it would reduce GDP by at least two percent and weaken economic growth.

Dr Singh asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to find a more practical and pragmatic solution to prevent this distress on the public.

Prime Minister Modi earlier in the day defended the government's decision to demonetise 500 and 1000 rupee currency notes.

The Prime Minister, who was speaking after releasing two books on Constitution, said some are angry on the initiative as they were not informed before the decision was considered.

He said, those who are criticizing the demonetisation move don't have problem with the government's preparedness, but they are having problems because they didn't get time to prepare for turning their black money into white.