Draconian Demonetization: Congress Demands Relief for People
Congress has asked the government to allow people to withdraw their money from banks without any restrictions.
By Rakesh Raman
As the demonetization decision of the Indian government has wreaked havoc on the entire country, the opposition party Congress has demanded relief for the affected people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had demonetized currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 on November 8 with the belief that his decision will help check corruption in the country.
But Modi’s decision has caused a total chaos in India. Nobel laureate and world’s top economist Professor Amartya Sen says Modi’s demonetization decision has showed authoritarian nature of the Indian government.
Similarly, former Prime Minister of India and leading economist Dr. Manmohan Singh said in India’s Parliament that Modi’s demonetization scheme is a case of organized loot and legalized plunder.
He reminded Modi of the unfortunate deaths that have already taken place in India because Modi government is not allowing people to withdraw their own money from banks.
Congress Party released a list of demands on Saturday asking the Modi government to compensate the people as they have faced huge hardships during the past over 2 months since the demonetization was announced.
[ Click here to know more about demonetization and its impact ]
Among its demands, Congress has asked the government to allow people to withdraw their money from banks without any restrictions and government should deposit Rs. 25,000 in the account of every woman who lives in a below poverty line (BPL) family.
Similarly, it has asked the government to extend 50% tax relief to small traders as Modi’s demonetization has almost destroyed the traders because buyers don’t have enough cash to buy their products.
The Congress Party has put forward the following demands on behalf of the people, who have faced many hardships due to Demonetisation. pic.twitter.com/GmidOEmVE3
— INC India (@INCIndia) January 14, 2017
Meanwhile, Dr. Manmohan Singh said Saturday that Modi has brought India on a path of disaster and the worse is yet to come. Moreover, the GDP of India after demonetization is expected to fall drastically to 6%.
However, the Finance Minister of India Arun Jaitley said last week that his government’s decision to demonetize high denominational currency notes has not caused any social unrest in the country, as it is being projected by the opposition parties.
Jaitley claimed that all opinion polls conducted by independent media organizations have shown that an overwhelmingly large percentage of people have supported the government’s decision.
He, however, did not give the details of “opinion polls” and their methodologies for carrying out the surveys about demonetization. It is largely believed that such armchair surveys are secretly sponsored by the government to hoodwink the people with their findings.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a government award-winning journalist and social scientist. You also can visit the REAL VOTER – Politics in India Information Center that he manages.
Photo courtesy: Congress
