The Congress party staged a demonstration and took out a rally observing completion of one year of demonetisation as Black Day in Dehradun and elsewhere in the State on Wednesday. In Dehradun, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh headed a procession which started from the Congress Bhawan and passed through clock Tower, Paltan Bazaar and Kotwali to reach the Dispensary Road.
Addressing the Congress workers on the occasion, the PCC chief said that the demonetisation decision taken by the prime minister Narendra Modi had caused problems for the common people and middle class. He said, “The Central Government under Narendra Modi as prime minister, during its three years in office so far has not introduced any such scheme which benefits the poor and common public. On the contrary, the common people of the nation are bearing the brunt of measures intended at benefitting some large industrial houses. One year has passed since the demonetization decision was taken taken but still there is confusion across the nation and those living in the rural remote areas have not yet been able to recuperate from its effects.This decision taken supposedly for extracting black money and removing counterfeit currency from circulation has turned out to be more of a conspiracy to benefit a few industrial families and disturb the nation’s economy.” He further lambasted the Central Government for implementing the Goods and Services Tax without proper preparation. “The Congress has been in favour of GST, it was first mentioned by the then finance minister in his speech during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA government during 2004. The Congress intended to introduce GST by 2010 and had sought consent of the States for this. The then Gujarat Chief Minister and current PM along with the Madhya Pradesh CM had outrightly rejected GST then. The UPA Government was to introduce GST with maximum 14 per cent tax but the present Government has made four tax slabs.