Cong rewinds to horrors of demonetisation

The government had said the "temporary shortage" was caused by an unusual increase in demand for currency.

New Delhi: The Congress linked the currency shortage in parts of the country on Tuesday to demonetisation, alleging that the Narendra Modi government's wrong policies and financial mismanagement had played havoc with the country's established systems. Although the government said the crisis was temporary and there were enough currency notes available, the Congress used the opportunity to recall the horrors of " note-bandi" - the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November 2016. Party president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: " Samjho ab note-bandi ka fareb/ aapka paisa Nirav Modi ki jeb/ Modi ki Mallya maya/ Note-bandi ka aatank dobara chhaya/ Desh ke ATM sab fir khali/bankon ki kya haalat kar daali(Understand the fraud of demonetisation/ Your money in Nirav Modi's pocket/ Modi's (Vijay) Mallya magic/ the terror of demonetisation returns to haunt/ ATMs in the country are all empty/ look what a plight the banks are in)." Former finance minister P. Chidambaram tweeted: "A government is obliged to provide as much cash as the people need at any given time. The government or RBI cannot arbitrarily control the supply of cash.... If RBI has injected sufficient cash, it is obliged to tell the people why there is a cash shortage." The government had said the "temporary shortage" was caused by an unusual increase in demand for currency. Party communications chief Randeep Surjewala said more cash was in circulation today than the pre-demonetisation phase, questioning the government's claim of transformation to a digital economy. "On November 6, 2016, cash available was Rs 17.74 lakh crore. On April 6, 2018: Rs 18.17 lakh crore." Surjewala also pointed to the rising non-performing assets, tweeting: "Banks in peril, public money sinks. Defaulters have a heyday. NPA write-off 2014-2017 - 2.72 lakh crore. Recovery - Rs 29,343 crore."