Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for demonetisation failure and asked if he will own up the ‘colossal failure which cost innocent lives and ruined the economy’.
“A colossal failure which cost innocent lives and ruined the economy. Will the PM own up,” he tweeted late Wednesday night following release of the Reserve Bank of India's data on demonetisation.
Revealing the low efficacy of last November's demonetisation of high-value currency, the RBI said that of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore of notes taken out of circulation, Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or almost 99 per cent, had returned to the system by way of deposits by the public.
Earlier, former finance minister P Chidambaram had slammed the government terming note ban move as ‘disaster’ and ‘anti-national’. He even questioned the Narendra Modi government whether its demonetisation decision was designed to convert black money into white.
"99 pc notes legally exchanged! Was demonetisation a scheme designed to convert black money into white?" Chidambaram tweeted.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying demonetisation not only dented institutional sanctity of the RBI but also India's credibility abroad. “Demonetisation was nothing but a disaster in which 104 innocent people were killed while corrupt made windfall gains.”
Senior party leader Anand Sharma said that none of the objectives of demonetisation has been met. "It was an ill-thought decision which created financial anarchy in the country. Tens and millions of jobs were lost. Hardships were inflicted upon the poor people, farmers, workers and housewives of the country. Now the prime minister should explain where is that black money," he said.
Former Union minister Kapil Sibal said, "Demonetised black money successfully laundered! Someone in government should be given Bharat Ratna for this conversion."
