Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on the note ban anniversary on Wednesday termed demonetisation as a 'tragedy' and a 'thoughtless act' and alleged that due to it livelihood of millions of honest Indians were destroyed.
He said his party stood with all those people who have suffered due to demonetisation, which was announced on November 8 last year by the prime minister.
Taking a poetic dig at the government, he tweeted in Hindi that 'even a single tear spelt danger for the government and one has not seen an ocean coming out of the eyes', tagging a picture of some poor people crying while standing in queues.
'Demonetisation is a tragedy. We stand with millions of honest Indians, whose lives and livelihoods were destroyed by PM’s thoughtless act,' he said on Twitter.
To mark the anniversary of note ban, the Congress was observing a 'black day' on Wednesday and will hold countrywide protests in the form of processions, rallies and candle-light marches.
The Congress, which described the note ban decision as the 'biggest scam' and 'the largest government-abetted money laundering scheme', has asked all its state units to organise protests, processions and marches to mark the day.
It has also asked all its leaders to participate in such protests and strongly highlight the demerits of the decision, which it said is a 'colossal and completely avoidable failure'.
The Congress leaders will pan out across the country and will participate in protests with 'Desh Bhugat Raha hai' and 'India suffers' as the central theme for the day.
Gandhi is likely to lead a candlelight march in Surat's Chowk Bazar area as part of the Opposition parties' 'Black Day' protest in the country's textile and diamond hub.
Lashing out at the Centre, he said note ban and goods and services tax rollout have broken the legs of Surat.
He interacted with industry representatives and workers at Nirman Industries' loom factory in Katargam industrial development area after he arrived in the Surat city of the poll-bound Gujarat.
"There was an attack on India's economy one year ago," he said.
"I interacted with the people here and they told me that notebandi (demonetisation) and then GST have broken Surat's legs. The industry has been finished by the twin blows not only here, but in the entire country," Gandhi said.
"The people said that they have been threatened. But truth cannot be suppressed, it will come out," the Congress leader told reporters.
He said, "Surat is the place which can compete with China and has been doing it. Jobs will either come to India or China. But instead of helping them, the government has destroyed their strength."
Hitting out at the new tax regime rolled out by the National Democratic Alliance government on July 1 this year, Gandhi said, "We had told Modiji and (Union Finance Minister) Arun Jaitleyji not to implement the GST in this way."
He said, "This is not a political thing, this is not between the Congress and the BJP. This is about India's competitiveness, we have to compete with China. You please do not kill our industries and businesses. But they said that we are going to implement it at 12 midnight," he said.
"You press (media) people were asking us, why we are not allowing GST to be implemented, because we wanted to save Surat and the country," he said.
"GST means one nation, one tax. But this GST, implemented by Modiji, which has five layers will not work. We had said that maximum cap on taxes should be 18 per cent but they did not listen to us," the Congress leader said.
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If it is ethical to let millions suffer: Chidambaram asks Jaitley
Congress leader P Chidambaram launched a scathing attack on the Centre and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the anniversary of note ban, asking whether it was 'ethical' to heap misery on millions of people.
No one could deny that lives and jobs were lost due to the note ban, the former Union finance minister said on "demonetisation Black Day".
A day after Jaitley said the demonetisation decision was an 'ethical drive and a moral step', Chidambaram took him on in a series of tweets.
"FM says demonetisation was "ethical". Was it ethical to heap misery on millions of people, especially 15 crore daily wage earners?" he asked.
The former finance minister went on to ask if it was ethical to destroy 15 lakh regular jobs during January-April 2017 and force thousands of micro and small businesses to close down?
"Was it ethical to give an easy way for converting black money into white as now discovered by Government?"
The former finance minister also asked whether it was ethical to damage vibrant industrial hubs like Surat, Bhiwandi, Moradabad, Agra, Ludhiana and Tiruppur.
A year after the demonetisation decision, Chidambaram also launched a frontal attack on the Modi government and said, 'On demonetisation Black Day read real-life stories, say a prayer for the millions who suffered.'
He noted that millions of people had suffered due to demonetisation. Could anyone deny, he asked, that lives and jobs were lost and small businesses closed.
He said the cash of Rs 15 lakh crore with the public would soon reach the November 2016 level of Rs 17 lakh crore.
According to Chidambaram, artificial reduction of cash in circulation is one of the reasons for lower demand and lower growth.
"In interest of transparency, government/RBI should release RBI Board's agenda, background note and (former Governor) Dr Raghuram Rajan's note.
If government is confident of its decision, why does it fear releasing these documents?" Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes as a measure to fight black money, corruption, fake currency and terror funding on this day last year.
The opposition is observing 'black day' today.
The government, Chidambaram said, claimed that money was eliminated. But 'you will find the 'eliminated' black money' when the Gujarat election campaign starts, he added.
'Modi's currency gamble damaged Indian economy, says the BBC. Is BBC a supporter of black money and corruption?' he asked.
Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo
