Cong seeks Modi’s apology over demonetisation

The Congress on Wednesday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s apology over demonetisation, saying it had dented India’s credibility and the corrupt had made windfall gains while 104 innocent people had lost their lives in the “disaster.”

In a series of tweets, Congress communications department in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala took jibes at the PM while referring to his Independence Day speech in which he had said that black money of Rs 3 lakh crore had been unearthed after demonetisation.

Surjewala cited the RBI’s annual report figures, which said that of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore of notes taken out of circulation, Rs 15.28 lakh crore had returned to the system by way of deposits by the public, meant that the cost of printing new currency was more than the money gained by the central bank.

“Reality-RBI data released today proves only Rs 16,000 cr out of the 15.44 lakh cr money in circulation came back. Of this, Rs 9,000 cr still stuck. Perspective: This Rs 16,000 cr is just 1% of the total notes demonetised. Rs 21,000 crore spent to recover Rs 16,000 cr!” Surjewala tweeted.

“Utterly failed #Demonetisation is nothing but a disaster in which 104 innocent people were killed while ‘Corrupt’ made ‘Windfall Gains’,” he said in another post. Accusing Modi of obfuscation, he said figures given by RBI had “again exposed” the government, and the “demonetisation scam” had “not only dented institutional sanctity of RBI, but also credibility of India abroad”.