PM Modi failed to fulfil any of his promises, 'unworthy of trust': Congress
08:59PM Fri 25 Nov, 2016
"Modiji promised that he would bring back Rs 80 lakh crore black money back to India. Has he fulfilled that promise? No," Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal said.
The Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "not being worthy of trust" as he has failed to fulfil any of his promises. Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal said though Modi has claimed that the situation after demonetization will be normalised in 50 days, it will take around six months for the RBI to replace all the demenetized currency. He said the Prime Minister is not ready to face Lok Sabha, where his party enjoys a majority, as his own people are against him and will stand exposed in Rajya Sabha as he would not be able to answer the questions posed to him there.
"Modiji promised that he would bring back Rs 80 lakh crore black money back to India. Has he fulfilled that promise? No.
He said he would bring Lokpal? Has he implemented it? "Which promise has he fulfilled? Why should we believe him? We have no faith in this Prime Minister. He is not worthy of trust," he said.
Sibal further said the Prime Minister said that the situation will normalise in two days, but it did not happen.
Then the Finance Minister said the situation will normalise in two weeks, but that did not happen either.
"Now he says situation will normalise in 50 days. How will it normalise?" he said, adding that going by the capacity of RBI printing presses it will only be able to monetise the replaced currency in six months time.
"When Modiji first entered Parliament he made a show of bowing his head and calling it a temple. Today the situation is the Prime Minister will inaugurate a book on Constitution, yet not give the Constitution the dignity it deserves. The true meaning of the Constitution. The etiquette of Parliament.
On these things, the Prime Minister has no care," he alleged.
Attacking Modi, Sibal said over 47 people have lost their lives till November 17 in the wake of demonetization decision, still the country's 'chowkidar' is sleeping well.
"How is the nation's 'chowkidar' sleeping while the people are facing such hardships?" he asked.
The Congress leader wondered of the PM thinks that all the leaders in the Opposition are black money hoarders.
"He says opposition is worried because they had no time (to change currency) but BJP had a lot of time. They (BJP) had all the information. They deposited cash and they purchased land. And then he says that it is the Opposition which is against the nation," he said.
On Prime Minister speaking outside Parliament against the opposition, Sibal asked, "Why doesn't he speak in Lok Sabha.
Is it because he is afraid of his own people?" He said "In the Rajya Sabha, he is silent as he will be asked questions when he comes to the House. If asked questions he would be expected to answer and if he does not answer, then he will be exposed. People will realise that the Prime Minister's knowledge may be deficient on certain topics."
Sibal warned Modi not to take the country towards disaster as this could happen if the country's economic order collapses.
Saying that the Congress was not asking for a rollback of the demonetization decision as it does not expect the Prime Minister to do so, he said "I don't expect this PM to roll back. The PM mocked at our people in this country from Japan. I expect this Prime Minister to think about the promises made to the people of this country".
Sibal also accused the Prime Minister of doing politics on the basis of lies. He also said that there has been a rise in ceasefire violations ever since India carried out surgical strikes.
"We want you should truly handle terrorism, not through speeches or demonetizing currency. Don't talk of 'achche din', but bring 'sachche din' in the country," he said.
He also criticised the government, saying it has changed the rules 172 times since November 8 when it took the decision on demonetization.
Recalling Modi's criticism of UPA when the Indian currency fell internationally, the Congress leader asked, "I want to ask him if the Rupee was on an escalator. He used to say earlier that the Rupee is on a ventilator." Sibal said as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data for 2015-16, 2,203 crore pieces of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes were needed to be printed and till November 18, Rs 1.03 lakh crore has been withdrawn and Rs 33,000 crore has been exchanged.
"Rs 1.3 lakh crore has been pumped into the economy. What is the value of the currency which is demonetized , it is Rs 14 lakh crore? They have four printing presses for currency and in 2015-16, the intent was to create 2203 crore pieces.
"The amount printed was 2012 crore pieces. This is in one year, in two shifts. Based on this, the time required for the currency notes to be printed is at least six months. RBI has said that in the rush two variants of notes have been printed," he said.
The Congress leader also cautioned that there are only 19 Issue Offices of RBI that provide currency to banks and wondered how the banks will get all this money in such a short period of time.
Sibal wondered that with nearly 80 crore people earning less than Rs 10,000, "Is the money with them, black money?" He also said as per RBI, the total amount of counterfeit notes is 0.0007 per cent of the total cash floating.