As the Bharatiya Janata Party led NDA government prepares for a face off with the Opposition over demonetisation, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the move to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes a year ago was a "tragedy". The Congress, which observes the first anniversary of the demonetisation as a 'black day', "stands with millions of honest Indians, whose lives and livelihoods were destroyed by PM’s thoughtless act," Gandhi said in a tweet today morning. November 8 marks one year of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of demonetisation exercise that rendered useless nearly 86 per cent of the total currency in circulation. While the ruling BJP plans to observe 'anti-black money day' today, the Opposition will mark it as a 'black day' and will carry out protests across the country. BJP leaders, including many Union ministers, will fan out across the country to highlight the "benefits" of demonetisation. on the first anniversary of the exercise. Calling the measure "anti-people", the Congress and several opposition parties will hold protests against note ban in several parts of the country. Unfazed by the opposition criticism, the BJP has claimed deminetisation led to a cleaner economy. Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Suresh Prabhu and Smriti Irani will speak to the media in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Lucknow respectively today. Prakash Javadekar will address a press conference in Bengaluru and Piyush Goyal in Ahmedabad. Union minister Jayant Sinha has also been drafted for the exercise, sources said. BJP chief Amit Shah will be in Gujarat.
