The Congress on Thursday described demonetisation as the “biggest scam” and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading the people by repeatedly making “false statements” on what the decision to junk high-value currency notes had achieved.
These remarks by senior Congress leader Anand Sharma come in the wake of the RBI's annual report on Wednesday that revealed that Rs 15.28 lakh crore of high-value currency had returned to the system by way of public deposits – in short, that the experiment was a failure.
The Prime Minister, Mr Sharma stressed, owed the nation an explanation. “He has to accept moral responsibility. He must apologise to the country and we will continue to force accountability on this issue,” he said.
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Pointing to the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech about the quantum of black money unearthed after 86.4% of India’s currency, totalling almost 15.5 lakh crore in Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 denomination, was scrapped on November 8 last, Mr. Sharma said demonetisation had led to a loss of GDP of Rs 2.25 lakh crore.
“The government has not spoken the truth at any stage. People have been misled, inconvenienced. This has been the biggest scam,” Mr. Sharma said, stressing, “Those who had illegal money, the government has helped them make it legal.”
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All the reasons the Prime Minister had given for demonetisation – that it would end corruption, black money and terror funding – have proved to be false. Instead, Mr. Sharma said, demonetisation “inflicted misery upon the people of India, wrecked the country’s economy, shaved off 1.5% of India’s GDP which was equivalent to 2.25 lakh crore”. Tens of millions of jobs were lost in the unorganised sector, crores of Indian citizens had to stand in front of banks and ATMs, more than 100 persons died and dozens committed suicide.
A delegation of the DMK, Congress, CPI(M) and the CPI met the President on Thursday and presented a memorandum to him, drawing his attention to the political uncertainty and instability in Tamil Nadu. “The government in office and the Chief Minister have lost the majority as 21 legislators have given individual letters to the Governor. The Leader of the Opposition and the Opposition parties have collectively demanded the convening of an emergent session of the Assembly and the Chief Minister must be asked to prove his majority,” he said.