A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that 99 per cent of the demonetised currency had been returned to the system, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that note ban had only helped the prime minister’s “crony capitalist friends”.
While addressing the media in the national capital, Rahul said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out demonetisation to help 15-20 of his crony capitalist friends. That was the aim of demonetisation. PM’s friends converted black money into white money during demonetisation.”
He added, “Demonetisation was nothing but a huge scam. The evidence is slowly coming out.”
While referring to an RTI reply which said the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) had exchanged junked notes worth Rs 745.58 crore in five days after demonetisation was announced, the Congress leader took a swipe at the prime minister and said, “PM Modi was right when he said his government had done what no one could do in 70 years. He must answer why he did this.”
He added, “Demonetisation was not a mistake, it was a deliberate move. During the UPA regime, non-performing assets were Rs 2.5 lakh crore. It has now jumped to Rs 12.5 lakh crore.”
