New Delhi, November 24, 2016: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of throwing the country’s economy into shambles with his ill-conceived demonetisation move, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday requested the Supreme Court to direct fast-tracking of all cases against demonetisation to rescue the people from the crisis into which they had been plunged by the currency change.
With more than 70 demonetisation related deaths reported around the country so far, Captain Amarinder said the mismanaged move had clearly failed to achieve Modi’s stated objective of curbing terror funding and cracking down on black money. Terrorists continue to be financed, as was evident in the recovery of new Rs. 2000 notes from the body of a militant killed in Bandipora, while the corrupt and black money hoarders had found several illegal ways to wriggle out of the crisis.
Amid media reports of deaths, industrial devastation and agricultural ruin in Punjab as a result of the demonetisation, Captain Amarinder expressed grave concern at the deteriorating situation and vowed to fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s irrational and illogical initiative to save the people of the state from irrevocable damage.
Captain Amarinder dismissed as fraudulent the claims of the government that things had improved for the small farmers and villagers with its decision to pump money into the cooperative banks for disbursement and other initiatives taken to alleviate their woes. With more than 7000 villages in Punjab having no bank branches, and cooperative banks still not permitted to exchange/accept old currency notes, the Modi government is clearly misleading the people, who continue to run from pillar to post in a desperate bid to arrange enough cash to meet their bare essential needs, he added.
Regretting the demonetisation related deaths across the country, including in Punjab where three people died in a day on Wednesday, Captain Amarinder said even the Banking Correspondents who used to visit these villages on a regular basis (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) have stopped going there since demonetisation was announced by the prime minister. “How does Modi expect these poor people to survive?,” said Captain Amarinder, adding that the entire demonetisation plan was devised to help out the corrupt few at the cost of the millions of innocent people who had been deprived of their constitutional right to live.