Congress slams government's financial anarchy'

Mumbai: In a veiled attack against the Narendra Modi government, Congress communication cell chief Randeep Surjewala alleged on Wednesday that demonetisation has pushed the country into financial anarchy and resulted in a surgical attack on the common man of India. Mr Surjewala said so in a press conference here in Mumbai, after participating in an agitation against the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI).

“The RBI has become a captive puppet of this government. It is guilty of absolute abduction of responsibility and gross mismanagement. The federal bank once known for its autonomy has now been reduced to look like a branch of the RSS. Modiji and Urjit Patel are responsible for this,” said Mr Surjewala.

The Congress has issued a memorandum that raises 10 questions over the functioning of the finance ministry and the RBI. Mr Surjewala said, “The Congress party demands that the weekly withdrawal limit of Rs 24,000 be removed. We want to ask this government, under which rule has this decision been taken?”

The Congress also alleged that the Ahmedabad Cooperative Bank has seen a sudden rise of around Rs 200 crore in deposits after November 9, the day following the demonetisation announcement. “The central government should have investigated this matter. But as BJP president Amit Shah is one of the directors of the bank, the government didn’t deploy its investigative agencies,” Mr Surjewala claimed.  

He also demanded that the RBI make public the exact amount of black money that was revealed thanks to demonetisation. “The RBI is not giving proper information to people. It should tell us when the demonetisation drive would be completed, and how and what impact it would have on the Indian economy,” he said.