Congress asks PM to apologise on demonetisation anniversary

NEW DELHI: Asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to the nation for demonetisation that “wrecked” the economy, the Congress on Tuesday said it will observe a nationwide protest on Friday to mark the second anniversary of the note ban.

“Two years ago the Prime Minister announced demonetisation and gave three reasons for it — to curb black money, weed out fake notes and proscribe terror funding. Two years later, none of those objectives has materialised.

“In fact, there is more cash in circulation today than it was two years ago when Modi announced demonetisation,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told the media here.

The Congress leader said that Modi should apologise to the people of India on November 8 (on the second anniversary) for his “Tughlaqian decree” of demonetising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, then in circulation.

“The Prime Minister should apologise to the nation on November 8, 2018, at same time for ruining and wrecking the Indian economy,” said Tewari, adding that Congress leaders and workers will come out on the streets across the nation in protest against the “complete demolition of the Indian economy by this Tughlaqian decree of demonetisation”.

DON’T PLAY WITH ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY

The Congress on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of playing with India’s economic sovereignty by trying to demolish the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and seeking transfer of Rs 3.6 lakh crore or one-third of the central bank’s reserves.

The Congress said if the “unprecedented” demand by the Modi government was allowed to materialise it would tantamount to the “great Indian bank robbery”.

“Rs 36,00,00,00,00,000, that’s how much the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) needs from the RBI to fix the mess his genius economic theories have created. Stand up to him Mr Patel. Protect the nation,” Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted ridiculing Modi’s economic policies that have messed up the Indian economy, urging the RBI Governor Urjit Patel to resist the Centre’s demand at all cost.

Later addressing the media, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said: “The RBI has been strongly resisting the unprecedented demand by the government. But if this demand were to fructify, this would tantamount to great Indian robbery.”

Citing reports that the Modi government “may have invoked” section 7 of the RBI Act to get its wish fulfilled, Tewari said such a move was unprecedented and reflected the government’s bid to demolish the central bank’s autonomy.

“This is going to have a profound implication on the macroeconomic stability of India as it is the RBI’S autonomy which provides confidence to foreign and Indian investors with regard to the stability of the Indian economy.

“The Modi government wants to demolish that confidence and demolish the RBI in the process,” said the former Union Minister asserting that the Congress would strongly resist the government’s move to demolish the RBI autonomy.

Tewari alleged that the Modi government was seeking the money to dole out freebies ahead of the 2019 elections.

In fact, there is more cash in circulation today than it was two years ago when Modi announced demonetisation MANISH TEWARI Congress spokesperson