Foolish move, PM running from one narrative to another: Rahul

CALLING DEMONETISATION a “foolish decision”, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said Thursday Prime Minister Narendra Modi has changed his narrative over the last one month by “running” from a crackdown against black money to choking terror funding to unearthing counterfeit money to a cashless economy.

“This was an experiment conjured up by the prime minister on an individual basis... The PM took this so-called bold decision. But bold decisions can also be foolish decisions. And this was a foolish decision... Layoffs are happening... More than a 100 people have died. And all this while the PM seems to be having a lot of fun. He is laughing. He is having a nice time while the people of the country are suffering,” Rahul said.

He referred to PAYTM — the payment gateway has seen a huge growth in numbers since the November 8 announcement — as “Pay to Modi”. “That is the idea behind a cashless economy. That a few people should get maximum benefit from every transaction. That is what is going on,” Rahul said. Talking about retrenchment, he said he has been told Larsen & Toubro had laid off almost a lakh.

About the prime minister’s narrative, Rahul said, “He started off by saying I am against black money... A huge amount of black money was supposed to be coming back and then given to the poor. That talk has now vanished. And the government is panicking. After black money, he went to terrorists [funding]. When some terrorists were caught with new notes... he moved from terrorists to counterfeit money. Then we asked how much counterfeit money is in the Indian economy... Rs 400 crore... he moved from counterfeit to a cashless economy... So, he is switching from one issue to another... he is running. One after the other, he is running. And we want to catch him inside the House. He will not be able to run inside the House.”

Fifteen Opposition parties observed a black day to mark a month of demonetisation. With black armbands, headbands and garlanded posters of old notes, they protested in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament.