BELAGAVI: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of demonetising high value currency only to waive off Rs 8 lakh crore in loans taken by his "pet 50 rich families" Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday claimed the prime minister was robbing the poor to help the country's wealthy and destroying its economy in the process.
Addressing a rally of over 50,000 people at the Belagavi district stadium, he contended that Mr Modi had fought elections and did his marketing using the money of these select families and now was trying to help them in return.
"By placing a limit of Rs 24,000 a week on cash withdrawals, Mr Modi has ensured that all the poor people's money is piled up in banks. If people were free to withdraw as much money as they wanted after demonetisation, his entire plan would have flopped. Mr Modi, who has waived over Rs 1 lakh crore in loans taken by his '15 super rich friends' over the last two-and-a-half years, would not have been able to waive the Rs 8 lakh crore loans of these rich families,'' he argued, also maintaining that people standing in long queues to draw money from banks and ATMs would have been able to withdraw a sufficient amount if Mr Modi had ensured that enough currency notes were available before demonetisation."
Challenging the Prime Minister's assurance that things would improve after 50 days, he offered to give it in writing that things would not improve for another three or four months. "In the meanwhile, the economy will badly collapse as Mr Modi will use people's money stuck in banks to waive off the Rs 8 lakh crore loans availed by the rich of the country. The people are free to question me if anything I say now turns out to be a lie tomorrow,'' Mr Gandhi added.
Noting that the rich invested their black money in real estate or stashed it in foreign banks, he said this only meant that over 94 per cent of black money was not in the form of cash in the country. "It is unfortunate that Mr Modi has gone after 6 per cent of black money for the sake of his rich friends and targeted 99 per cent of Indians for no reason," he deplored.
Calling Mr Modi "a super event manager," Mr Gandhi said, "Modi jhoot bolta hai. His demonetisation was nothing but a firebombing of the poor masses that has destroyed the Indian economy." Calling liquor baron, Vijay Mallya, an "Indian thief," Mr Gandhi asked why were both he and Mr Lalit Modi allowed by the Centre to stay in London and why was the Rs 1200 crore loan taken by Mr Mallya from the banks, waived.
Also, claiming that BJP units in Bihar and Orissa had managed to buy vast tracts of land prior to demonetisation, he alleged that Mr Modi had informed his partymen about the move well in advance. "How else were crores deposited merely days before demonetisation by Mr Modi's friends in the country?" he demanded.
Objecting to the excuses given by the Prime Minister on demonetisation, Mr Gandhi said he was confused over the decision. ''Initially the PM said he would stop terror activities by demonetisation, but changed this stance when a new Rs 2000 currency note was recovered from a terrorist. Then he stated that demonetisation would help in creating a cashless economy and again
changed his stance saying it would put an end to counterfeit currency," Mr Gandhi observed, warning the Prime Minister that he could not run away or hide by taking the people for a ride and the Congress party would hold him accountable.
