Congress alleges Demonetisation as scam to convert black money to white

Narendra Modi

The Congress Friday alleged that demonetisation was a "scam" to convert black money to white and asked the BJP to declare who is responsible for the "economic loss" caused by the Modi government's move.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called the demonetisation "disaster" an economic revolution and had given tackling black money, counterfeit currency, terrorism and Naxalism as reasons for the move.

None of the stated objectives of the government were achieved, the Congress leader said.

He cited a Reserve Bank of India report to state that over 99 per cent of the demonetised currency has been deposited in banks.

The BJP should now state that who is responsible for the economic loss caused by demonetisation, Surjewala said in a statement.

"Demonetisation was a scam to convert black money into white," he alleged.

Surjewala's remarks come a day after the second anniversary of demonetisation.

Earlier in the day, Youth Congress members accompanied by senior party leaders Friday staged a protest against demonetisation outside the RBI office here and were detained by police.

The government and opposition parties were Thursday locked in a bitter war of words with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley citing a spike in the number of taxpayers to staunchly defend demonetisation while Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the note ban cost 1.5 million jobs and 1 per cent of India's GDP.

Jaitley said demonetisation resulted in the formalisation of the economy and increased tax base. The BJP also posed 10 questions to the Congress, asking why its finds merit in protesting every "anti-corruption" measure of the Modi government and accused it of "living in denial" despite a surge in GDP numbers.

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