Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra today lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that demonetisation was not done in the interest of the country but for political gain and keeping in view the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and other States.
At a press conference in Tumakuru city, Mr. Jayachandra alleged that the Union government has given a benefit of Rs.5 lakh crore in the form of loan waiver to corporate companies. He said that Mr. Modi did not express any regrets towards the inconvenience caused to the people post-demonetisation in his recent address to the nation. “Mr. Modi’s body language during the speech itself showed his guilty consciousness about demonetisation. The Prime Minister did not say anything about the amount of black money or fake currency recovered through demonetisation. And there was no mention of giving compensation to the 115 people who died while standing in queues in banks to withdraw money.”
The Minister said the Parliament session took place for one month after Mr. Modi announced demonetisation but the Prime Minister did not speak in Parliament, which is a “great insult to democracy and shows the attitude of a dictator.” Mr. Modi had said that black money and fake currency are the biggest threat to the nation hence demonetisation was done but he did not give a single statement in Parliament about it.
Mr.Jayachandra said that in the last two-and-a-half years, Mr. Modi has spoken only thrice in Parliament but makes lots of speeches in foreign countries where the audience are Indians and not foreigners.
‘Jobless’
The Minister said more than four lakh people have become jobless in the country after demonetisation was announced and 60 per cent of the people who lost jobs are daily wage workers including agricultural labourers. He felt that it is not easy to go cashless in the country where the banking sector has reached only 27 per cent of the population. He said demonetisation is going to cause the State’s exchequer about Rs.6,000 crore.
MLA Rafiq Ahmed, district Congress president Ramakrishna and others were present.
