Rajya Sabha member and AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes has said that that the measures of demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) implemented by the Union government have turned the country’s economy upside down.
He was speaking at the “black day’ function held by the district unit of the Congress to protest against demonetisation, GST, increasing price of LPG cylinders, and “anti-people” policies of the Union government in front of the Congress Bhavan, here.
Mr. Fernandes said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while announcing the demonetisation of currencies of ₹500 and ₹1,000 denomination on November 8 last year, said that it would curb black money and that the beneficial results of the move would be clear in 50 days. But a year has gone by, and the beneficial results are nowhere to be seen. The government’s own figures showed that the growth of GDP had dipped to 5.8%. When the former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, had warned the Centre of a decline by at least 2% of the GDP owing to demonetisation Mr. Modi had ridiculed him, he added.
'Unorganised sector left in lurch'
Demonetisation has not only affected growth, but also thrown a large number of people, especially in the unorganised sector out of work. It has also had an impact on the textile industry, he said. The impact of demonetisation was such that even people in Mr. Modi’s home state of Gujarat were disillusioned by the Centre. This was the reason why Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was drawing crowds in Gujarat, he added.
Even though the Congress supported the Centre on GST, its implementation has left a lot to be desired. The 28% GST on restaurants was aimed not at the hospitality sector, but on the people who went to eat there, Mr. Fernandes said. President of Udupi City Municipal Council Meenakshi Bannanje, Janardhan Tonse, M.A. Gafoor, Celine Karkada, Ramesh Kanchan, Janardhan Bhandarkar, Geeta Wagle, Satish Padukere, and Dinesh Puthran, Congress leaders, were present.
