NEW DELHI: Taking pot-shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Sunday said that his demonetisation step, which was dubbed as a "Shuddhi Yajna", was "an uncontrolled forest fire" and has claimed over 100 lives and crippled the economy.
Congress alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded “apologetic” in his New Year eve speech. The opposition party also claimed that the scheme of financial assistance to pregnant women, announced by Modi, was actually started by the UPA.
Hitting out at Prime Minister, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said the speech gave no “hard data” on how much black money was extinguished, whether sufficient quantity of Rs 500 notes were issued and about restrictions on cooperative banks. Chavan said the speech did not have clarity on the legal issues raised over note ban and compensation for deaths “due to demonetisation exercise”.
Chavan, who was also a Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) under UPA, said the scheme of financial assistance to pregnant women was started by the UPA in November 2010 as a pilot project.
“It became part of the National Food Security Act (2013). The financial assistance under this scheme was increased from Rs 4000 to Rs 6000 in 2013 itself,” the Congress leader said.
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