Rahul Gandhi calls demonetisation a scam to help Modi's friends

NEW DELHI: Congress on Thursday used the second anniversary of notebandi to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of dealing a long-term blow to the poor and the small industry through his "ill-advised" measure. Congress president Rahul Gandhi called November 8 a "day of infamy" and said the currency ban was Modi's scheme to help his "suitbooted" friends convert their black money into white.

He said India has been hurt by enemy countries many times but demonetisation was a "self-inflicted suicidal attack that destroyed millions of lives, ruined thousands of small businesses and devastated the entire informal sector". He said notebandi cost India 1.5 million jobs and 1% of GDP.

"India will discover that demonetisation wasn't just an ill-conceived and poorly executed economic policy with innocent intent but a carefully planned, criminal financial scam," he said.

Former PM Manmohan Singh said while time is a great healer, "scars and wounds" of notebandi are becoming more evident with the passage of time.

"Small and medium businesses that are the cornerstone of India's economy are yet to recover from the demonetisation shock. This has had a direct impact on employment as the economy continues to struggle to create enough new jobs for our youth. The financial markets are volatile as the liquidity crisis wrought by demonetisation is taking its eventual toll on infrastructure lenders and non-bank financial services firms," he said.

He urged Modi government to desist from unorthodox measures that cause uncertainty in economy.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also accused the government of trying to capture the Reserve Bank of India's Rs 9.6 lakh crore reserve to tide over its fiscal crisis. He said November 19 would be the day of reckoning, as the RBI board is scheduled to meet on that day.

AICC spokesman Anand Sharma said, "The PM is less than literate in economics. He is less knowledgeable and less literate in history. So, he makes his own history, he makes his own economics."