Demonetisation turned black into white: Rahul
Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi says that demonetisation is a ‘magical’ scheme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that turned all the black money into white
DAHOD: Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that demonetisation was a “magical” scheme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that turned all the black money into white.
Addressing the “Adivasi Adhikar Sabha” (Meeting for tribal rights) in this Gujarat district, he said that while the common man stood in long bank queues for days, the rich got their old currency exchanged through the backdoor.
“There is another magic by Modiji and it is demonetisation. You all stood in bank queues, but did you see any suited-booted gentleman standing in the queue? You did not, and I will tell you why,” Gandhi said.
“It is because all the suited-booted guys entered the banks from the back door, sat in air-conditioned rooms and got their lakhs and crores exchanged. All the thieves thus got their black money converted into white through magic,” he said.
Modi had on November 8 last year announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
Gandhi also attacked Modi over not fulfilling the promises he made to the tribal people.
“Modiji did not give a penny to the tribals, but he granted your land, which you call mother, worth Rs 33,000 crore to Tata’s Nano project. But the interesting thing is that I do not see any Nano cars on the roads in Gujarat or elsewhere,” he said.
Gandhi emphasised that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governemnt had allocated Rs 35,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that provided sustenance to millions across the country.
“And here, Modiji gave this much amount to just one industrialist in one single state. Be it land, be it electricity or be it Narmada’s water, everything is being given to just 5-10 select people,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi visited residences of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Madhusudan Mistry who has lost his son and that of former MP and AICC Secretary Mirza Irshad Baig who passed away recently, to convey his condolences.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday hit back at Rahul Gandhi for his “failed hugplomacy” jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the release of LET founder Haiz Saeed, saying the Congress Vice President should stand with the country and not with the mastermind of the Mumbai massacre.
“Rahul baba, Aadte nahi badli (Habits have not changed). For once, stand with the country and not with Terrorists as is your habit. You are a known sympathiser of LET. Wikileaks and Ishrat Jahan case cover-up exposed your links. By the way have you congratulated your ‘Hafeez Saheb’ on his release yet,” BJP spokesperson G.V.L Narsimha Rao said in a tweet.
Accusing the Congress of showing sympathy with Pakistan, the BJP leader said “Congress Ka Haath, Aatankivadiyon ke Saath” would be a more appropriate slogan for the grand old party.
“While Manmohan Singh’s government treated Pakistan as a victim state and let it off lightly, Narendra Modi has succeeded in isolating and cornering Pakistan as terroristan not just in the region but globally and in all international fora like the UN, G20, BRICS, ASEAN etc,” Rao said.
He said that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi have repeatedly betrayed the country by pandering to anti-india elements.
“The manner in which they questioned the surgical strikes against the terror launch pads across the LOC and the utterly disgraceful attacks against the army chief as a ‘Street thug (Sadak Ka Goonda)’ and Rahul Gandhi’s joining the groups shouting “Bharat ki barbaadi” slogans are symptomatic of Congress party’s support for antiIndia sentiments.
“The statements of Congress leaders eulogising and praising Burhan Wani and their solidarity for separatists clearly show their sympathies for pro-pakistan elements. It is a tragedy that a party which ruled India for six decades has compromised with the terrorist groups that have bled India for the sake of appeasing a minority vote bank. They have abused Hindu religion with terms like Hindu Terror and Saffron terror for appeasing minorities. In no other country, terror is politicised as the Congress sought to do in power,” he said in a statement.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the Prime Minister and termed the latter’s relationship with US President Donald Trump as failed “hugplomacy”.
“Narendrabhai, baat nahi bani (this is not done). Terror mastermind is free. President Trump just delinked Pak military funding from LET. Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed,” Gandhi tweeted on Saturday morning.
On Friday, Lashkar-e-taiba (LET) founder Haiz Saeed, accused of masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai massacre in 2008, was freed after 10 months of house arrest in Pakistan.
Earlier this month, the US Congress also passed a bill which dropped action against the Lashkar-e-taiba (LET) as a condition for Pakistan to receive hundreds of millions of dollars.