Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav stirred a controversy on Tuesday when he said that the parallel economy operating in the country in the form of black money had helped India survive during global meltdown.
“The Samajwadi Party is against black money. But we should remember that at the time of global meltdown, when the economy world over was shrinking, this parallel economy helped India stay afloat,” Yadav said on the sidelines of a function held here on Tuesday.
He said though every political party is against black money but the way the Modi Government had acted in an arbitrary manner by putting million of people to hardship will not end corruption in India. “Will banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes end corruptionIJ” he asked.
“The Prime Minister has said that poor people like kadak (strong) chai and will support this kadak decision. But the fact is this chai is not kadak but kadavi (bitter). He should remember that the party which puts people in hardship is thrown out of power,” the Chief Minister said.
He said the serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs prove one thing that this decision was taken in haste without making proper preparations. The Government has not evaluated its fallout and subsequently this decision has made the people of the country suffer.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Yadav said that farmers, commoners and small traders were frustrated and disappointed with the decision as the only thing they were doing from the past five days was lining up in front of banks.
“The BJP itself is facing the brunt of this decision as participation of party workers has thinned in its Parivartan Yatra. They are standing in queue outside banks and have no time for party work now,” he said. Akhilesh had earlier written a letter to Modi asking him to extend the validity of high value currency notes in State-run hospitals till November 30 as people were not getting treatment in private nursing homes.
He had also demanded that special camps should be started in villages to disburse money because rural Uttar Pradesh does not have enough branches. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Government has also issued directives asking the State-run hospitals and private nursing homes to accept high denomination currency notes. “This has come to our knowledge that some hospitals are not accepting high currency notes. This is illegal. Action would be taken against officials if they refuse to accept old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 note,” Health minister Shivakant Ojha said.