DeMo anniv: Congress says Centre ‘destroyed’ economy

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday slammed the government over demonetisation, alleging that the Modi government has continuously changed the explanatory reasons for carrying out the measure four years ago and it has “destroyed” the economy.

On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Modi announced the decision to ban all currency notes of higher denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from midnight.

The Congress observed the fourth anniversary of demonetisation as “Vikshwasghaat Diwas” (betrayal day) and ran a social media campaign ‘SpeakUpAgainstDeMoDisaster’.

Congress general secretary Ajay Maken at a media briefing quoted former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks on November 24, 2016, to hit out at the government. “The way this scheme has been implemented -- is a monumental management failure, and in fact, it is a case of organised loot, legalised plunder of the common people,” Maken quoted Singh as saying.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the government over demonetisation, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move four years ago was aimed at helping a few of his “crony capitalist friends” and had “destroyed” the Indian economy. In a video released as part of the party’s online ‘SpeakUpAgainstDeMoDisaster’ campaign, Gandhi said the question is how the economy of Bangladesh “surpassed” the Indian economy as there was a time when India used to be one of the most high performing economies.

Congress leader P Chidambaram said, “The first lesson every ruler and every government must learn is that — even if you do not do good to the people, do not do harm. The BJP-led NDA government did great harm to India’s economy on November 8th, 2016.”

Several senior Congress leaders such as Malliwkarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor and Salman Khurshid slammed the government over demonetisation as part of the party’s online campaign.