Cong: BJP killed economy, rendered lakhs jobless

PANAJI: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee organised a protest in Panaji, on Wednesday, to mark the first anniversary of the November 8 demonetisation announcement. Slamming the Narendra Modi-led central government for taking hasty decisions, the Congress said demonetisation and GST had led to unemployment and shrinking of the economy.

Addressing 200-odd party workers who had gathered for the rally, party functionaries also called the demonetisation move illegal, as it was implemented without the RBI's approval.

"Only RBI's central board can recommend demonetisation and only then can the central government take it up," Goa Congress president Shantaram Naik, said. "It did not happen this way. The RBI central board did not know about this frightening incident and this act itself was illegal."

The protest was part of an all-India strategy taken up by the Congress to highlight the ill-effects of demonetisation.

The Congress continued to accuse the BJP of bringing the economy to a grinding halt. "This is a black day because the common man really suffered at the hands of the BJP government," opposition leader Chandrakant Kavlekar, said. "Because of the note ban, so many people lost their lives. Lakhs of people lost their jobs, small and medium industries crashed and have yet to return to normal."