PM Modi’s Note Ban Helped ‘Crony Capitalists’: Rahul Gandhi

Gandhi said demonetisation was an attack on the general public, and was intended to help only the rich.

File image of Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressing a function in New Delhi.

(Photo: PTI)

Video Producer: Anubhav Mishra
Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim

A day after the Reserve Bank of India, in its annual report, announced that over 99 percent of the demonetised currency had made its way back into the banks, Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressed the media on Thursday, 30 August, hitting out at the Narendra Modi government.

The intention of demonetisation was to help his (PM Modi’s) crony capitalist friends.

Rahul Gandhi

He further alleged that demonetisation was an attack on the general public, and was intended to help only the rich. “Notebandi is nothing less than a huge scam,” Gandhi said.

Interestingly, Gandhi began his press conference with a question directed at the media persons gathered – regarding their safety and freedom. “Are you writing freely these days, or is there some pressure?”, he asked.

He also attacked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley – over his counter-questions on the Rafale deal. Reiterating his demand for a joint parliamentary committee on the Rafale deal allegations, Gandhi took a jibe at Jaitley’s Facebook post, where the latter had posed questions at the UPA government’s deal on the Rafale jets.

Then quoting a joint statement on the deal, allegedly issued by the governments of France and India, Gandhi said PM Modi was “lying”.

Rafale is a clear-cut case. Anil Ambani never made aircraft. He is under Rs 45,000 crore loan and opened a company just a few days before Rafale deal. HAL has been making aircraft for past 70 years. An aircraft that was for Rs 520 crore was bought for Rs 1,600 crore, why?

Rahul Gandhi

The Congress president also alleged that the NPAs had grown under the NDA government’s regime to Rs 12.5 lakh, as compared to the previous UPA regime’s Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

Lashing out at the prime minister’s electoral promises, Gandhi said:

PM Modi has a list of promises, we cant take anything he says seriously. But we must catch his lies.

Rafale Deal 20% Cheaper Under NDA: Arun Jaitley

Minutes after Gandhi’s press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley lashed out the Congress President, stating that the Rafale deal was “20 percent cheaper” under the NDA government than the UPA.

Taking to Twitter, Jaitley said:

Gandhi at the press conference had maintained that the BJP was attempting to buy the Rafale jets at at a price three times more than the UPA government’s deal.

To this, Jaitley said:

Finally, on Gandhi’s allegation that demonetisation was Modi’s tactic to please his “crony capitalist friends”, Jaitley said:

Reform is Deform for Rahul Gandhi: BJP

Lashing out Rahul Gandhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra questioned if “reform” was “deform” for the Gandhi scion.

Taking a jibe at him, Patra said that Gandhi had nothing new to talk about, apart from the Rafale deal. Further questioning how the demonetised money could be called black money, Patra said:

What is black money, Mr Rahul Gandhi? The money which does not have an address is called as black money. The money that returned to the banking process due to demonetisation was attached with an address.

What the RBI’s Annual Report Said

The central bank, in its annual report, said almost all of the demonetised currency notes have been counted and accounted for by it. According to the report, Rs 15.31 lakh crore worth currency notes have now been returned, since 8 November 2016.

This represents about 99.3 percent of the total currency notes which went out of circulation on a single day. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominated currency notes, the total value of these high value currency notes in circulation was Rs 15.41 lakh crore.