Note ban a scam, not a mistake, says Rahul

You apologise when you make a mistake. Demonetisation was not a mistake, but done deliberately

RAHUL GANDHI, Congress chief

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday termed demonetisation t he country’s “biggest scam” and accused the Prime Minister of, through it, helping his “15-20 biggest crony capitalist friends” whose loans had turned into non-performing assets (NPAS).

His statement came a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) confirmed 99.3% of demonetised currency returned to it.

Addressing a news conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, Gandhi said the Prime Minister owed an explanation on why he “inflicted such a deep wound” to the people at a time when the country was facing pressing problems such as unemployment and low growth rate in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

“Why did he do it? His 15-20 big industrialist friends had accu- mulated NPAS worth thousands of crore. So, through demonetisation the money was taken out of the peoples’ pockets and put directly in the pockets of the country’s biggest crony capitalists,” he alleged.

The Bharatiya Janata Party responded immediately and strongly. “Rahul Gandhi is taking the names of 15 industrialists. Name one of them who became rich after 2014. Repeating old things will not change the reality,” party spokesperson Sambit Patra told journalists here.