HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation decision is driving India towards a jobless economy than cashless economy, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. He also accused Mr. Modi of running away from the debate on the ‘disastrous’ decision.
Mr. Singhvi, who spoke to media at the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) here, said that within two days of demonetisation, Rs. 65,000 crore of foreign investment was withdrawn from India indicating how the economy is going to suffer. All economists, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have said the GDP would see a decline by two per cent and that would have a huge impact on the economy.
He said the Indian Statistical Institute has published a report recently stating that the fake money in circulation in India was around Rs. 400 crore. “To take out such small amount it is a cruel attack on India and Indians,” he said adding that Mr. Modi has burnt India in the hope of seeing a ray of sunlight.
Commenting on the changes made by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister he said: “So far 105 changes have been made in less than a month on a decision that the Government claims to have planned as a surgical strike.”
Massive loss
He said the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report has revealed that Rs. 1.2 lakh crore was the cost of demonetisation due to loss of wages and logistics in less than a month. “Even if Mr. Modi’s scheme achieves 100 per cent success all that it would extract is six per cent cash, said to be the unaccounted money in the Indian economy,” the Congress spokesperson added.
Mr. Singhvi argued that Mr. Modi had helped the black money hoarders offering them a second Income Disclosure Scheme with 50 per cent penalty. “As per the IT Act black money hoarders attract 132 per cent penalty while the new scheme is letting them off with just 50 per cent. It reflects how the Prime Minister lacks information and how mala fide his intentions are,” he said. TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and senior leader Mallu Ravi and Dasoju Shravan were among present.
