Poor queueing up for the rich: BJP

Mumbai: If senior BJP leaders are to be believed, then the reason for bringing down the Rs 4,000 limit to Rs 2,000 for exchange of notes was because many persons belonging to the labour class were found in the queues, allegedly to get the work done for others.

BJP leaders confirmed that they had stationed their party workers in queues after the first two days of demonetisation, to determine why the queues would not truncate in slums and lower-middle class areas.

A senior party leader said he had received feedback from his workers that most people, many of who belonged to the labour class, were doing it to get the notes exchanged for others. This the leader said would defeat the purpose of the massive exercise. Thus the inking system was also introduced.

Gyanmurti Sharma, a BJP corporator from the western suburbs, said he had noticed that most people flocking to the banks were not customers of those banks.

Another leader who stood in the queue said, “What we saw was that the people in the queue were actually not exchanging notes that belonged to them. We loitered around in the queue for hours and realised that people standing in these were coming back.”

The leader said this phenomenon was seen all over the country and so the decisions to lower limits and use indelible ink were taken.

However, opposition parties have junked this theory, claiming BJP was just trying to justify its “anti-poor” move.

Preeti Sharma Menon, national spokesperson, Aam Aadmi Party, said, “It is clear the government is against the poor and only works for the rich and the elite who use plastic money. The government deciding how much money the public should be allowed to exchange is a violation of fundamental rights.”

Criticising the poor planning by the Central government, Sachin Sawant, spokesperson, Congress, said, “In the last 13 days, the government has come out with 19 directions. There was no proper planning and management. There has been 59 deaths so far.”

Nawab Malik, spokesperson, NCP, said, “When they say people standing in queues outside were exchanging money for others, is the government insinuating the public is corrupt? In that case, I would say the government is anti-people.”