2 years of demonetisation: Congress to stage national wide protest to mark note ban anniversary

The Opposition party will observe a ‘black-day’ across the country to mark the 2-years of note ban plan which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016.

Congress will organise protests in front of all RBI offices across the country. (Image: PTI)

2 years of demonetisation: The Congress party is planning to stage a nationwide protest on November 8 to mark the second anniversary of demonetisation. According to a report by news agency ANI, the Opposition party will observe a ‘black-day’ across the country to mark the 2-years of note ban plan which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016. PM Modi had announced that the then existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would cease to be legal tenders and withdrew around a sum of Rs 15 lakh crore from the economic system causing a nationwide havoc due to the cash crunch. It also issued new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 to replace the withdrawn currency. The government claimed that the move was aimed at curbing black money transactions, corruption and funding of terror activities. Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot has written to all the party units and stated that they will organise protests in front of all Reserve Bank of India (RBI) offices across the country. Congress President Rahul Gandhi will reportedly lead the protest and will be accompanied by former PM Dr Manmohan Singh and former finance minister P Chidambaram. The protest will focus on how all the listed motives of demonetisation were not met. The party will also hurdle the incumbent government over all the claims made about black money laundering in the country and how most of the demonetised currency came back in the banks leaving big economists to wonder why the decision was made. The Congress party will also question the government for the loss of several jobs in the informal sector due to note ban. Last month, Rahul Gandhi alleged that demonetisation in 2016 was carried out to convert black money of a few rich people into white and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a ‘magician’ who performed this act. “When demonetisation was announced, did mothers sitting here stand in queues? Did you see any rich person standing in a queue those days? In the initial two-three days, people had thought that it was a right exercise but after two-three months they realized what happened actually,” news agency PTI quoted Gandhi as saying.