New Delhi [India]: Continuing his all out war against the Centre over demonetisation, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rolled out the scheme in a haphazard and ad-hoc manner, which had thrown the entire nation in turmoil.
Addressing the media here, Rahul further alleged that the Prime Minister had warned several BJP leaders in advance, as evident from the pictures floating on social media of many BJP leaders flaunting wads of newly minted 2000 rupee notes.
“The Congress party are very much for taking on corruption and black money, but the question is that why should millions of people be inconvenienced in this manner. The decision that was taken was not thought through. It was taken on the basis of one person’s thinking and in an ad hoc, un-thought out way,” he said.
Asserting that the Congress was not seeking the roll back of the scheme but wanted the Prime Minster to see through the process right till the end, Rahul added that the Centre must do everything in its power to make the transition happen smoothly and help in easing the trouble of the common man.
However, Rahul emphasised that the true purpose of the scheme has failed as those who are the real black money players are walking scott-free including flamboyant businessman Vijay Mallya and former IPL chief Lalit Modi.
“If you go look at the lines outside banks and ATMs, do you see any eminent names? All I see are regular people. What wrong have they done?,” he added.
Alleging that a massive scam was in play behind the haphazard execution of the scheme, Rahul stated that most of the economists he had interacted with, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, has asserted there was not economic rationale behind this decision.
“Including the Finance Minister, who had no clue about this step, Prime Minister Modi did not even trust those close to him about his scheme. He was under pressure and it was a knee-jerk reaction to that. He needs to manage the present repercussions or the people are going to be hurt more than ever,” Rahul said.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court on Tuesday to stay the government’s notification demonetizing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes but asked the Centre to file an affidavit giving details of steps taken to ease inconvenience faced by citizens due to long queues at banks and ATMs.
The bench asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to file an affidavit about the measures already undertaken by the government and the RBI to minimise public inconvenience and also the steps likely to be undertaken in future.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry today took stock of the prevailing situation in the country and assessed the inputs of reported tension in some places in the wake of demonetization of 1000 and 500 rupees notes.
Senior officials of the Ministry reviewed the situation in different states where rush are witnessed in banks and ATMs to exchange old notes and withdraw cash.
The Prime Minister, in a televised address to the nation, had declared that high denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 will no longer be legal tender from November 8-9 midnight.
He had said the government has declared a “decisive war” against black money and corruption. (ANI)