Dubbing the Narendra Modi government’s decision of demonetisation as “butchering of the Indian economy” done with an approval from the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI), the Shiv Sena on Friday reminded the Prime Minister of his much-discussed statement saying that he was prepared to suffer any punishment if his decision went wrong after 50 days.
In an editorial published in its official mouth-piece “Saamana”, the Sena said that the RBI found itself in a situation akin to that of a “drunken monkey” that set the country’s economy on fire and the apex bank was finding it difficult to hide the “truth” behind the demonetisation fiasco.
Alluding to the RBI’s annual report which stated that 99.3 per cent notes out of the Rs 15.41 lakh in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 2016 when the note ban was announced, the Sena said: “After it dug a mountain, not even a mouse came out”.
By prefacing its editorial with an impassioned plea made by Modi at a Goa Government function in Goa on November 13, 2016 to the nation give him 50 days to implement demonetisation, the Sena reminded the Prime Minister of his much-discussed statement made five days after his “horrible” note ban move that destroyed Indian economy.
“I have asked the country for just 50 days. If after December 30, there are shortcomings in my work or there are mistakes or a bad intention found in my work, I will be prepared for the punishment that the country decides for me,” Modi had said then.
The Sena said that none of the objectives enunciated by Prime Minister Modi while announcing demonetisation had been fulfilled.
“The demonetisation (undertaken by the Modi government) was butchering of Indian economy for which the RBI gave its stamp of approval,” the Saamana editorial said.
Hitting out at the Prime Minister for his “horrible” demonetisation “experiment” which resulted in a loss of 2.25 lakh to the country’s exchequer, the Sena said that unfazed by the demonetisation fiasco, the powers-that be (Modi) were behaving like a Nero who played fiddle while Rome burned.
“The country lost Rs 2.25 lakh crore because of demoentisation. It was corruption. It was a loot of the country’s exchequer. The RBI Governor should be hauled up before the court for failure to protect the country’s exchequer. Under the current regime in New Delhi, the position of the RBI is like a drunken monkey which set the country’s economy on fire,” the Sena said.
Alluding to vast deposits pf the banned notes made in “two to three” banks in Gujarat, the Sena said: “Even before the actual demonetisation, some newspapers had published reports in Gujarat about the impending ban on the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes. This is a very serious matter. There were those who were trying to teach lessons to people in the name of demonetisation. Now even drunken monkey (RBI) is finding it difficult to hide the truth. The real facts have come out from the RBI’s just released annual report”.
“For those who labelled (former PM) Manmohan Singh a ‘fool’, the truth is out now ...it is clear that demonetization was a fiasco. The RBI has accepted it…” the editorial added.