Rahul on New Year leave as Congress kicks off stir on note ban

New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said he will be travelling for the next few days, apparently taking a break for New Year, even as his party announced a month-long protest to expose the “biggest scam” of demonetisation. “I will be travelling for the next few days. Happy New Year to everyone, wishing you and your loved ones success & happiness in this coming year,” Mr Gandhi tweeted.

He did not mention where he was travelling to. But last year too, Mr Gandhi had taken a nearly two-month-long break and was criticised for his absence as several Congress leaders were unaware of his whereabouts. Mr Gandhi’s absence for the “next few days” come at a time when Congress has announced to launch a month-long protest to expose the “government’s biggest scam” of demonetisation.

Mr Gandhi also reiterated his demand, asking the Prime Minister to lift the restrictions on cash withdrawals immediately and deposit Rs 25,000 in the account of every BPL family.

He took to Twitter to highlight his demands ahead of Mr Modi’s second television address to the nation after his surprise November 8 announcement to withdraw Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 currency notes.

He advocated immediately abolishing charges on digital transactions and called for Income and Sales taxes rebate of 50 per cent to small-scale shopkeepers and businesses.

On January 2-3, all the state Congress leaders would go to the district headquarters and “expose the real face of demonetisation”. On January 3-4, state-level meetings would be called, while on January 6, all the district collectorates would be gheraoed by Congress leaders and workers. On January 9, the Mahila Congress cadre, along with the workers of the other wings of the party, will stage countrywide protests, the theme of which would be ‘Garib ki jeb khali, bajao thaali’

The Congress vice president is a staunch critic of the government’s decision to demonetise the high-value notes. He has dubbed the move the single most arbitrary decision in the history of the world affecting 1.3 billion people.

Communications Incharge of the Congress Randeep Surjewala alleged that demonetisation had given birth to “new black markets”. He said “”One market is to convert old notes into new notes for commissions ranging from 20 to 30 per cent which is happening with tacit and at times, active complicity of the government and its officials as various raids have exposed.”

The first phase of the protests would end on January 10, while the next two phases would be over by the last week of January