The Congress on Thursday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, describing it as the country's “biggest scam” which had inflicted “misery” on the people and dealt a “body blow” to the economy. The party also said in the last six quarters of the Modi regime, the GDP growth sank from 9.2 per cent to 5.7 per cent.
“The Prime Minister should take moral responsibility by accepting his mistake and apologise,” senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said at an AICC briefing. Sharma said demonetisation had led to a GDP loss of
Rs 2.25 lakh crore. He said the Prime Minister had committed a breach of trust with the people by making false claims on the issue.
The Congress's attack came after the Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report on Wednesday that banks had received Rs 15.28 lakh crore or 99 per cent of the invalidated currency. The Deputy leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said the note ban decision had achieved nothing as 99 per cent of the money came back into the system. He accused the Prime Minister of “changing the narrative” on the issue repeatedly.
Sharma said none of the measures that Modi had promised with the ban on high currency notes, put into effect in November last year, had been realized. “Demonetisation is the biggest scam, as the Government has helped the wrong people legitimise their illegitimate money through it and has betrayed the poor people of the country with false promises,” he said. He stressed it was the Prime Minister's “direct responsibility as it was his personal decision”.
Sharma accused Modi of defaming his own people before the world. He also asked the Prime Minister to explain his Independence Day speech where he mentioned that
Rs 3 lakh crore of black money had been unearthed and challenged him to make public the list of companies and individuals whose undeclared money it was. “The GDP numbers released for the (April-June) quarter confirms that the reckless decision of the Prime Minister on demonetisation and the policy defaults have led to a major crash in the Indian economy,” Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said.
The former Commerce Minister said, “The country has suffered because of the ego of the Prime Minister, and the Finance Minister has failed to make amends but is happily busy being an apologist for the Prime Minister's wrong decisions.”
Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, “GDP growth slows from over 8 pc to 5.7 % yet those living in glass houses of demonetisation disaster remain oblivious in their ivory towers. “In last 6 quarters, the economy under Modiji sank from 9.2 % to 5.7 %! This is by new method of calculation! Is this demonetisation success formulaIJ” he asked on Twitter.
India's GDP growth dropped to a three-year low of 5.7% during April-June as manufacturing dipped ahead of the launch of GST and impact of the demonetisation lingered on in the third quarter.
The expansion in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 6.1% in the immediate preceding quarter and 7.9% in the corresponding period last fiscal. The previous low of 4.6 % was recorded in January-March 2014.