In the wake of demonetisation that has put the nation through 'great hardships', Congress today likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Roman Emperor Nero who fiddled while Rome burned.

'There is a saying, Nero fiddled while Rome burned. As the story goes, in the time of a crisis, the Roman Emperor was busy playing the violin. He was both whimsical and ineffectual when Rome needed him the most.

'It has been a month since that fateful day when Modi decided that 86 per cent of the cash in the economy was illegal. Since then, the entire nation has been put through great hardships, whose cost in terms of human lives has been significant,' the main opposition party said.

In a commentary on the party website on a day marking one month to the demonetization announcement, the All India Congress Committee noted that people were told that the government was prepared to face the situation.

'We were told that we would have to bear with the government for only a few days. But, as the extent of the pain across the nation became apparent, Modi began to change the rules around demonetisation. It has been a month and there is still not enough money in the banks. Rules have been changed more than 120 times,' it said.