The Opposition attacked the government in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, accusing it of being a “failure” on all fronts, particularly in tackling black money, terrorism and fake currency. The ruling side, on other other hand, contended that “metamorphosis of India is happening now.”
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government had imposed an “undeclared emergency” and criticism was being suppressed. Participating in a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Mr. Azad said 2016 had been “a year of depression, recession, regression and suppression.”
Members of the other Opposition parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress also attacked the government on demonetisation, the state of the economy and aspects of governance.
From the ruling side, Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said the country had seen widespread corruption and the economy had been in a dire condition during the previous Congress rule.
‘Information leaked’
Mr. Azad said demonetistion had had no impact on black money or fake currency. It was an “ill conceived” move as 135 circulars were issued to implement a single policy. “This may find a place in the Guinness Book of World Records,” he said.
He alleged that information about the demonetisation move had been leaked to BJP leaders beforehand. He said a BJP leader knew about the ₹2,000 note two days before the Prime Minister announced the demonetisation of old ₹500 and ₹1000 notes. Some BJP members, he said, bought huge tracts of land using cash just before the old notes were scrapped.
“Why were they informed about it?... They were in the know. Lakhs and crores of rupees were deposited in the banks,” he said.
Political vendetta
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien, while attacking the government on demonetisation, said its impact was such that may were driven to suicide.
He accused the government of indulging in political vendetta. “You can arrest all the 46 MPs of the TMC and also [party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee. But you cannot stop us from opposing the anti-people policy. Political vendetta is not a solution in a democracy,” Mr. O’Brien said.
Referring to the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi replacing Mahatma Gandhi’s in the Khadi calender, Mr. O’Brien said: “PM means ‘photo mantri’.” Photo opportunities were not a solution to any problem. The demonetisation had adversely affected tea gardens and the leather industry among others. Crores of people had lost their jobs and it had resulted in reverse migration.
“Auto sales are down to a 16-year low and MSME growth has declined. A 40 per cent drop is in the FMCG sector,” he said.
On Digital India, Mr. O’Brien said it should rightly be called ‘divisive India’ as there were about 26 Twitter handles spreading hatred and two such handles had been suspended by Twitter.
