In a stinging attack on demonetisation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday likened it to the "fire bombing" seen during World War II.
Instead of attacking "50 families" in India who control 99 per cent of the country's wealth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "fire-bombed" 99 per cent of honest Indians and yet appeared happy about it, Gandhi said.
Addressing an election rally in south Goa's Margao town, he also said that Modi's objective behind demonetisation was to extract money from the working class to fund the cash-strapped banks, whose loans to the super-rich had turned them into non-performing assets.
"On November 8, he says ... the money in your pocket, the money earned from labour and work, is reduced to paper. Then he laughs at a pop concert, jokes.
"This was not a surgical strike. This was a fire bombing on 99 per cent of Indians," Gandhi said.
Gandhi went on to explain how fire bombing destroyed big cities like Rotterdam, Dresden and Tokyo with more ruthlessness than an atomic bomb.
"On November 8, Modi fire-bombed Indians. He burnt India."
"Modiji, when an Indian farmer buys seeds, fertiliser, he does not buy it via debit card, he buys it via cash. You have set fire to his home.
"When a labourer works and gets money in the evening, he gets it in cash, you have burnt his home.
"In Goa, you have burnt the fishing industry, tourism industry was burnt, in Pune you have destroyed the automobile industry, in Punjab you have finished the cycle and the sports industry, in Kanpur you have destroyed the leather industry, in Mirzapur, the carpet industry and you are laughing. You are having fun?" Gandhi said.
The Gandhi scion also said that the Modi-led government had divided India into two unequal halves.
"On the one hand, the super rich, who fly in private planes, and on the other side the 99 per cent population which includes farmers, labourers, small shopkeepers, middle class, all these on the other side.
"In the last two and a half years, one per cent of the people have been awarded 60 per cent of India's wealth... Fifty families today in India have most amount of wealth.
"The biggest share of wealth of India is in the hands of 50 families. And these are the same people who go with Modi to Australia, the US, fly in planes and crack big business deals.
"I do not want to take names, but you know their names," he added.
--IANS
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