Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, Nov 8: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “robbing” the country of its economic prowess and “damaging” India by converting people’s anger due to joblessness into “communal hatred”.
On the first anniversary of demonetisation, which he termed as a “tragedy”, Gandhi said livelihood of millions of honest Indians were destroyed due to this “thoughtless act” of the prime minister.
“Modi’s reforms have robbed India of its economic prowess,” he alleged in an article in ‘Financial Times’ that said demonetisation has wiped out 2 per cent of GDP and “ruined” the lives of millions of workers.
Gandhi said the prime minister claimed his decision was aimed at wiping out corruption, but “Twelve months on the only thing he has wiped out is confidence in our once booming economy”. The Congress vice president alleged that demonetisation destroyed the informal labour sector and has wiped out many small and medium businesses.
“Mr Modi has damaged India by converting anger created by joblessness and lack of economic opportunity into communal hatred. “He has chosen to hide behind a shallow, hate-filled political narrative. Anger might have brought Mr Modi to power but it will never create jobs or fix India’s institutions,” he said in the article.
Taking a poetic dig at the government, he tweeted in Hindi that even a single tear spelt danger for the government and one has not seen an ocean coming out of the eyes, tagging a picture of some poor people crying while standing in queues. “Demonetisation is a tragedy. We stand with millions of honest Indians, whose lives and livelihoods were destroyed by PM’s thoughtless act,” he said on Twitter.