Apologise for 'blunder of demonetisation': Arvind Kejriwal tells PM Modi

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to tender an apology to the people during his address to the nation on New Year's Eve on what he said was a "blunder of demonetisation". 

Kejriwal, also the national convener of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which governs Delhi, said Modi has committed a blunder by demonetising high-value notes and pushed India into a deep economic crisis. 

"Modi had demanded 50 days to implement the exercise, but there's no sign of people recovering from its after shocks," he said and demanded a roll back, suggesting that Modi should make an announcement in this regard in his address tomorrow. "There's no solution other than rolling back demonetisation," the former Income Tax department official told reporters in Amritsar. 

Alleging that the RBI was "tight-lipped" on the amount of money demonetised or black money recovered, he asked the prime minister to explain how much of illegal wealth has returned and what amount of money was being pumped into the system. 

Initial estimates by RBI suggest Rs 14 lakh crore (in high-value notes) was in circulation, which has returned to RBI, but only Rs 4 lakh crore of new currency of Rs 2,000 notes was available for circulation, said Kejriwal, who had criticised the drive soon after it was launched on November 8. 

Financial experts all across the world have spoken against demonetisation, he said, but only BJP president Amit Shah and "his team of sycophants" were hailing the decision. He also challenged the prime minister to order "any probe" against him. "I am not scared of Modi threats and open to any probe of my accounts by any central agency," he said.

Kejriwal maintained that Modi accepted bribes from big corporates such as Sahara and Birla. Modi had taken Rs 40 crore from Sahara on October 30, 2013 and Rs 25 crore from Birla group on November 12, 2013, he claimed, adding that the IT department has seized relevant documents from Sahara and Birla offices but no notice was issued to Modi. 

He said under the IT Act section 132(4A), any document recovered during raid is deemed to be true unless proved wrong by the party accused. "Not even a notice was issued to Modi and all Income Tax Commissioners dealing with the case were transferred," he said.