PM Modi living in 'cuckoos land', failing to understand nation's pain: Congress

Commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promotion of digital banking through his Mann ki Baat address , the Congress on Sunday said that the former is living in 'cuckoos land' where ground reality is completely different from the statements he was making.

"In India there are 350 million bank accounts, including a substantive number of zero balance 'Jan-dhan' accounts. In a country of 1350 million people if only 315 million of people have access to a bank account, that means the bulk of the transactions, especially in rural India is taking place in cash. So, the prime minister seems to be living completely in cuckoos land," said Congress leader Manish Tewari.

Further commenting on the Center's demonetisation drive, Tewari said that Prime Minister Modi failed to understand the pain he has unleashed on the country by his move.

"The fact when a decision of the government has hurt so many people across the country, as it is the people who make up the country, then that action for lack of a better word is anti- national," he said.

Asserting that it will take 50 days for the situation to normalise post demonetisation, Prime Minster Narendra Modi today appealed to the people to embrace digital banking to tide over the currency crunch.

In a renewed push for making India a cashless economy, Prime Minister Modi in his Mann Ki Baat programme said, "Scrapping these notes has opened other avenues to make payments. Download apps of banks and e-payment options. Shopkeepers can keep card swiping facilities and everyone can ensure they pay safe using their credit and debit cards."

He asked traders and small shop owners to provide alternative payment methods such as using POS machines, e-payment wallets and other such "friendly technologies" to their patrons.

The prime minister said that by adopting such technology, even small traders can immensely increase their profits.