Cong demands PM apology after RBI, says 99.3 pc junked notes returned to system

The Congress today demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he lied to the country over the demonetisation issue, after the RBI said almost all the 500 and 1,000 currency notes scrapped in November 2016 returned to the banking system.

The party said the return of almost all the junked notes meant that the government had failed to unearth any black money, check terror financing and eradicate fake currency as promised by Modi while announcing noteban.

Hitting out at the Centre, the opposition party said India had to pay a "huge price" for demonetising a bulk of currency, announced suddenly by Modi on November 8, 2016.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram claimed that more than 100 lives were lost and lakhs of jobs were destroyed due to closure of businesses after demonetisation.

The Indian economy lost 1.5 per cent of GDP growth that accounted for a loss of Rs 2.25 lakh crore a year, he said.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the prime minister in his 2017 Independence Day speech had claimed that over Rs 3 lakh crore unaccounted money will come back to the system.

"Modiji, will you apologise for that lie now? (The) RBI report again proves that demonetisation was a 'Modi-made disaster' of epic proportions. 99.30 pc of demonetised money returns," he said.

The RBI, after an awfully long period of counting of returned bank notes, said today that as much as 99.3 per cent of the junked notes have returned to the banking system.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said Modi should have resigned on moral grounds for this "monumental failure".

He should at least apologise to the country for carrying out this "surgical strike" on the country's economy, Tewari said.

The Congress leader said, "We would like to ask the prime minister about who is responsible for all this. The prime minister should take moral responsibility for this."