AICC Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would go down in India’s history alongside Muhammad Bin Tughlak for the "gross misadventure of demonetisation that wreaked havoc with India’s economy".
Addressing the day-long training camp for Telangana Congress workers at Mallika Convention Hall in Shamshabad on Saturday, Surjewala said demonitistion could be aptly described as "Modi Made Disaster." He said former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was proved right in calling the demonitisation as ‘organized loot and legalized plunder’. Similarly, he said Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had demanded an investigation through Joint Parliamentary Committee in the demonetisation scam, layers of which have now been unveiled by the RBI Annual Report.
The Congress leader said that the GDP data released on August 31, 2017 has reflected a decline from 9.2% to 5.7% and the picture of colossal economic pilferage of India’s economy. "This itself means a loss of over 3 Lakh Crores to the Economy, for which PM Modi is solely responsible. If morality is still a virtue in India’s polity, then it is time for PM Modi to introspect and demit the office he holds, besides apologizing to the nation for the unpardonable blunder and ordering an immediate investigation into the demonetisation scam as also the loss to economy," he said.
Surjewala said Union BJP government, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley need to answer as to where the black money has gone. "RBI Report reflects that out of 15.44 lakh crore money in circulation at the time of demonetisation on November 8, 2016; Rs 15.28 lakh crore have been received back. It means that only Rs 16,000 crore did not come back, so far. Out of this Rs 16,000 crore, money deposited with Royal Banks of Nepal and Bhutan, money deposited in courts as ‘case property’/ confiscated by authorities (police/income tax/ED) and money lying with NRI’s abroad is yet to be accounted. On the contrary, PM and FM have claimed that demonetisation would result in non-deposit of Rs 3-5 lakh crore of black money. On December 10, 2016, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that “The Government expects Rs 10 or 11 lakh crore out of a total of Rs 15 lakh crore," he said.
"Will Modi ji answer as to where has the black money gone, as almost the entire money has been re-deposited?" he asked. Further, he said that another reason given for demonitisation was detection of fake currency notes. "RBI Report has revealed the falsehood of this claim also. Out of 15.28 lakh crore currency received back, only 41 crore currency was found to be fake i.e. 0.0013%. Once 99.998% currency has been found to be genuine, and then the entire logic given by Prime Minister has utterly failed. Fake Currency in shape of the new Rs 500/Rs 2000 notes has already been detected," he said.
The Congress leader said that the demonitisation also failed to curb terrorism and naxalism. He said post-demonitisation, there have been 36 major terror incidents in J&K alone, in which 58 Army men have been martyred and 36 civilians killed. Also, there have been 13 major naxal attacks after demonetisation, in which 69 security personnel were martyred and 81 civilians killed. "What is the logic of Prime Minister’s claim is un-understandable in view of these figures?" he said.
"RBI Report says that only 16,000 crore was not deposited back. RBI Report further reveals that a sum of Rs.25, 391 crore was spent on printing/logistics of New notes. Will Modi ji tell the logic of spending 25,391 crore rupees to save 16,000 crore rupees?" he asked.
Surjewala also gave a detailed power-point presentation on various other aspects of demonitisation like the Digital Economy, seizure of Black Money, etc., He also blamed PM Modi for the death of nearly 150 citizens who died in bank queues while the entire population remained confused due to repeated change of demonetisation rules by RBI on 128 occasions. Quoting CMIE Report, he also said over 15 lakh jobs were also lost due to demonitisation.
"PM Narendra Modi is solely responsible for this lapse. It is time for him to own up accountability," he demanded.