BJP should apologise to nation for demonetisation, says Ghulam Nabi Azad

Under attack from BJP over his controversial remark over Modi government's demonetisation move, leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and his party ruled out apologising for his remarks saying the government should instead apologise to the people.

"BJP should apologise (for demonetisation) to the entire nation, not me. The way they have pushed back the country, they must apologise to the 125 crore people of this country," the senior Congress leader said outside Parliament.

BJP members led by minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi created a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha on Friday demanding that Azad apologise for his statement.

Naqvi said that Azad's statement had given a message to the country that Congress was sympathetic to terrorism and asked why was it so agitated when the demonetisation drive was only to hurt black money hoarders.

Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Manish Tewari came to Azad's defence saying as a politician of long standing from Jammu and Kashmir and as chief minister of that state, he was second to none in upholding nationalism and by no means he could be called anti-national.