Demonetisation A 'Terror Attack': Rahul Gandhi's Brutal Takedown Of Note Ban

Ex-Congress chief and current Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi took a sharp wipe at the Narendra Modi government on the occasion of third anniversary of the demonetisation. On November 8 in 2016, Prime Minister Modi announced the note ban to aid India’s fight against black money, corruption and terror funding. “It’s 3 yrs since the Demonetisation terror attack that devastated the Indian economy, taking many lives, wiping out lakhs of small businesses & leaving millions of Indians unemployed. Those behind this vicious attack have yet to be brought to justice,” Gandhi said in a tweet on Friday.

The Congress party also slammed the BJP government terming the note ban as devastating exercise. “Three years after #Demonetisation the pain & fear still lingers in people's lives & the devastating effect on the economy reverberates through every sector. Does the BJP govt have the courage to accept their faults?”

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also hit out at Prime Minister Modi for the demonetisation move, describing him as "today's Tughlaq". "Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq rendered the country's currency useless in the year 1330. Today's Tughlaq did the same on November 8, 2016," he said in a tweet. "3 years have passed and the country is suffering because- economy collapsed, employment lost. Neither terrorism stopped, nor the business of fake notes," he said, and asked who is responsible.

The demonetisation was hailed as a step that would curb black money, corruption and check counterfeit currency, but the RBI, in its annual report for 2017, had said just 7.1 pieces of Rs 500 note per million in circulation and 19.1 pieces of Rs 1,000 notes per million in circulation were found to be fake in its sample survey

The Bankers' Bank had said that as much as 99 per cent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes had returned to the banking system, which had prompted the opposition to question the efficacy of the government's unprecedented note ban decision to curb black money and corruption

Following the note ban, old notes were allowed to be deposited in banks, with unusual deposits coming under the Income Tax department's scrutiny