Modi Has Taken People’s Money Like a ‘Pickpocket’: Sitaram Yechury

In a post on Facebook, Yechury accused the government of helping black money hoarders.

In a stinging attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged on Sunday that the PM has taken away people’s money like a “pickpocket”.

Taking to Facebook, Yechury accused PM Modi of helping black money hoarders convert their money. He said the government was “playing fraud” by claiming that the growth rate will be 7.1 percent despite the note ban.

The scathing remarks from the leader come a day after the ruling BJP hailed the scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes – calling it a “sacred movement” that will lead the country to a clean economy.

Yechury wondered how the saffron party could claim “victory against black money” when the government has not produced any data on money that was returned to banks and restrictions on withdrawals continue.

“Modi behaves like a pickpocket, who has picked pockets of the people first, and now says he will come out with welfare schemes,” Yechury said in the post.

Recalling that Modi had, in the run up to 2014 Lok Sabha polls, said that 90 percent of black is parked abroad, Yechury alleged that the Prime Minister was doing nothing on this front.

Yechury expressed apprehension that the end result of demonetisation, with time till 31 March to exchange scrapped notes, could be that banks will have more currency than they have printed.

The defunct notes can be exchanged at designated RBI counters after explaining reason for delay in depositing them by 30 December.

This will ultimately see that black money will become white and counterfeit will turn legal currencies.

Referring to the RBI's projection that the growth rate will be close to 7.1 percent, the Rajya Sabha member accused the government of “playing fraud”.

Yechury said the figure was calculated by allegedly considering only the first six months of the present fiscal and not the months of October, November and December. “Hence, they say that growth had not been affected,” he added.