Demonetisation is a Modi-made disaster: Congress

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Monday termed demonetisation a "Modi-made disaster" and demanded he apologise to the nation apart from ordering an enquiry into the "demonetisation scam".

The Congress also said if the Prime Minister is found to have misled and lied to the nation, it was time for him to introspect whether he has the moral right to continue in his office after decimating India's economy by over Rs 3 lakh crore.

On the question of impact of demonetisation as stated by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "One thing is amply clear that the disaster of demonetisation was nothing but Modi-made disaster.

"Who is responsible for this disaster in which India's economy lost over Rs 3 lakh crore, housewives lost their earnings, 15 lakh people lost their jobs, medium and small enterprises were forced to shut down."

Surjewala also said that the credibility of the financial institutions including the RBI was also put under question.

"That is why when Raghuram Rajan shows the mirror of truth to the Prime Minister and the BJP government, it is time for Modi to introspect. 99 per cent of the money came back to the system. Out of the (missing) Rs 16,000 crore we have to take into account the money deposited with the Royal Bank of Nepal, deposited in court cases and also with NRIs and maybe that amount will also come back," he added.

"Where is the black money of Rs 3 to 5 lakh crore which the Attorney General of India promised to the Supreme Court on behalf of the Prime Minister.

"If that purpose is defeated, the only two other purposes stated by the Prime Minister were to fight fake currency and terrorism and encourage digital transactions," he said.

But in this he noted that only Rs 41 crore has been found to be fake currency, while there have been 32 major terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir alone and 13 major terror incidents of Maoism, while prior to demonetisation, the value of monthly digital transactions was Rs 94 lakh crore and in July 2017 that value had only gone up to Rs 104 lakh crore.

--IANS

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