 "Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. Photo: PTI")
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday again criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the demonetisation issue and said he had divided the country into two.
He said the November 8 demonetisation -- wherein old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes were scrapped -- was not against corruption but against the poor and other sections of society.
"Modi ji has divided the country between one per cent super-rich people and 99 per cent honest people. All black money is not in cash and all cash is not black money," Gandhi said at a big rally in this tribal belt in the desert state.
He said the cash lying with 99 per cent Indians is not black money. "About 94 per cent of the black money is lying in Swiss bank accounts, gold and real estate. Just six per cent of the black money is in cash," the Congress leader said.
He demanded that the Modi government release in Parliament the list of names of those who hold black money in Swiss banks.
Targeting Modi over turning India cashless, Gandhi said: "A farmer buys seeds not through mobile. He purchases in cash. When a labourer works, he does not get payment in credit card but in cash. Modi ji, you hit them. You also hit small traders."
The Congress leader said some big corporates hold money in Swiss bank accounts and whenever Modi ji travels to Australia, Japan, China and other nations, some of these super-rich people travel with him, claiming that Modi gets them contracts.
"(Rajasthan Chief Minister) Vasundhara Raje does the same in the state," he added.
In September 2015, the Congress had demanded Raje's resignation over an alleged scam of Rs 45,000 crore in the allocation of mines in the state. The party said she was guilty of allocation of 653 mines in contravention of the Centre's policy on the matter.
"The Congress is against corruption; and if the government takes action against removing corruption, we (Congress) will support the government fully, the Congress leader said.
"But Modi ji, 'notebandi' is not against corruption. It is against the poor, labourers, women, farmers and middle-income families," he said.
"Modi ji, during (2014 general) election campaign, used to say he is going to get black money stashed abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh in each bank account. Did you get the money?," he asked.
"The Modi government has completed over two and a half years at the Centre whereas the Raje government has completed three years in power in the state. Give me one instance they have done something for the benefit of the poor," Gandhi said.
He said the people and the Congress wants three things from Modi and Raje -- waiving of loans of farmers, lower electricity tariff and right price for agricultural produce to farmers.
"Farmers are committing suicide; the governments -- both at the Centre and the state -- have done nothing for the farmers.
"The maximum number of atrocities against scheduled castes and tribes happen in Rajasthan and the Chief Minister is doing nothing," the Congress leader said.
