All India Congress Committee (AICC) coordinator for Odisha Birendra Basista on Saturday alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decision of demonetisation without knowing the ground realities of the country.
Addressing a Press conference here, Basista upped the party’s ante against demonetisation in line with its all-India campaign demanding immediate steps to rectify the situation triggered by the note ban.
Basista accusing Modi of failing to fulfil the BJP’s poll promise to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks and deposit `15 lakh in the accounts of each people. Modi tries to divert the attention of people when they ask about his promises on the key issues, he alleged. The Congress demands an independent inquiry into the corruption and bribery allegations in the Birla and Sahara papers cases where `40 crore had been taken by Modi while he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, Basista said.
AICC Odisha zonal coordinator Bakttu Chakraborty accused Modi of misleading the people by projecting demonetisation as a battle against black money, terror financing and corruption. The Congress wants to know from him how much black money has come into the banks as a result of the move. Demonetisation is the biggest scam, he alleged. In his speech on the New Year-eve, Modi did not speak a single word on the people who died while standing in queues in banks, he added.