WEB DESK /
Sharpening its attack on BJP government’s Demonitisation scheme, Congress Tuesday asked how new Rs 2,000 notes reached hoarders
Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram today called for a probe into how freshly-minted Rs 2000 notes got into the hands of hoarders while there was an acute shortage in banks.
He said most people including him were struggling to get cash because it was not available in banks and ATMs while seizures by enforcement agencies showed bundles of Rs 2000 notes with hoarders.
“This is the biggest scam of the year. This is the one that should be investigated,” Chidambaram said at a press conference in Nagpur.
The Modi government to demonetise currency is “the worst attack on the poor in the country,” Chidambaram said.
He described it as a “completely thoughtless and meaningless move by government that won’t result in anything.”
‘If the objective was to remove black money, counterfeiting, terror funding, there are ways to go about it,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “shifting goalposts” by talking on cashless economy after initially pitching it as an ‘anti-black money’ move.
“In his November 8 speech PM Modi mentioned the word black money 18 times. In his two speeches on November 27 he mentioned black money 8 times and cashless economy 27 times,” said Chidambaram.
He pointed out that no country is actually cashless and that especially in India low-value transactions are always done in currency notes. Calling demonetisation a “thoughtless, meaningless” move he said it will irreparably damage 45 crore people of the country who depended on daily wages for their livelihood.
“45 crore people in this country depend on their daily income. Tomorrow nobody will compensate them for that,” he said.