The Congress on Friday asked the government to bring out a white paper explaining the gains and losses from the demonetisation as the party held nationwide demonstrations against what it described as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Tughlaqi firman (diktat)”.
The reference was to Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the 14th-century Sultan of Delhi whose capricious, ill-thought-out projects brought immense misery on his subjects.
Although the Congress protesters were not allowed to reach the Reserve Bank of India headquarters in Delhi, senior leaders courted arrest at Parliament Street police station. Demonstrations were held in all major cities and towns, while the Delhi Congress also organised a candle march.
Party general secretary Ashok Gehlot said the Prime Minister must explain to the nation what the demonetisation had achieved and bring out a white paper detailing its benefits and losses, including the closure of industries and the damage to economic growth.
He asked whether the government had conducted a survey to assess the miseries that the note recall inflicted on the people, or given any compensation to the families of the 120-odd people who died in the long queues before banks and ATMs.
Congress communication chief Randeep Surjewala said the demonetisation had failed to meet any of its stated objectives. He accused the Prime Minister of making fun of the people’s sufferings.
The Congress cited the latest reports claiming the Reserve Bank had told the government in writing that the note withdrawal would slow down economic growth temporarily and fail to meet the objectives of fighting black money and checking counterfeit currency.
A newspaper on Friday published the minutes of a hurriedly called board meeting of the RBI on November 8, 2016.
“(The) RBI minutes are a comprehensive repudiation of the government’s justification for demonetisation,” former finance minister P. Chidambaram said.
“(The) RBI board, with many members absent, met at 5.30pm on 8-11-2016 and disagreed with the key reasons given by the government, yet obediently endorsed demonetisation. That was a black day in RBI’s history.”
Chidambaram added: “Shockingly, the government’s paper calculated GDP growth in real terms and growth in money circulation in nominal terms, yet compared the two and reached absurd conclusions. So much for the competence of the government.
“What is this jargon put out by the government about ‘fix the economic capital framework of the RBI’? You fix what is broke. Which part of RBI is broken that the government is anxious to fix?”
Gehlot said: “(The) RBI had questioned the purpose (of the demonetisation) but the government has destroyed the RBI. There is a process through which the Prime Minister takes decisions. There are institutional consultative mechanisms.
“The Prime Minister or the chief minister can’t act whimsically, imposing on the country or the state whatever comes to their mind.
Before the announcement, the decision is analysed at many stages. What Narendra Modi did was like a Tughlaqi firman, announcing such a destructive decision without consulting key functionaries.”