Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that the “destruction of poor people and farmers” in the demonetisation move is their sacrifice in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ''yagna against corruption.''
Mr. Modi, earlier this month, described the decision to scrap Rs. 1,000 and old Rs. 500 currency as a yagna against corruption, terrorism and black money, and saluted people for their “wholehearted participation” in it.
Addressing a public rally at College Grounds in Baran, which is the political turf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Mr. Gandhi said a vast majority of poor people and farmers were sacrificed in the ''yagna'' and only one per cent people holding black money had invested it in real estate, gold, land and Swiss banks.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the cash that Indians hold is not black money. The money women keep at home is not black money,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi asked why Mr. Modi had not released the list of Swiss bank account holders in Parliament even after getting information from the Swiss government.
The currency ban had slowed down the country's economic growth. it was carried out without any planning and the cash crunch would continue for another six to seven months. Farmers' problems had not been solved and they were committing suicide every day, he said.
Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary Gurudas Kamat and a host of senior Congress leaders were present at the rally.
