Note ban: Cong seeks white paper from PM, puts forth demands

Rahul Gandhi is continuing with his anti-demonetisation drive even as the prime minister’s 50 day deadline ends in just two days. While demanding a White Paper from the government on demonetisation, the congress vice president has set up a committee to monitor the issue under senior leader Ahmed Patel.

Party leaders and spokespersons are being deputed to hold press conferences in all major cities of the country on Thursday and on January 2 to speak about the hardships of the people, how the rich have gained and the poor have suffered and how the prime minister and his government have mismanaged the issue.

A new Ordinance has been brought on Wednesday which says that anyone holding over Rs 10,000 in old notes after March 31 would be liable for fine and jail for 4 years. Political leaders have called this the worst kind of dictatorship and economic emergency.

Media chairman Randeep Singh Surjewala would hold a press conference in Jaipur on Wednesday, Shakeel Ahmed in Kolkatta, Ambika Soni in Jammu, Raj Babbar in Chandigarh, CP Joshi in Lucknow, Gurudas Kamat in Ahmedabad, Salman Khurshid in Chennai, BK Hari Prasad in Thiruvananthapuram, Tom Vadakkan in Goa and so on. The Congress is expecting the prime minister to announce some major sops in his Lucknow rally on January 2, and the party vice president in a bid to pre-empt those announcements has laid out a charter of demands on the party’s foundation day which begins with demanding a White Paper on demonetisation.

Some questions have been asked and some demands have been made. Seeking a white paper on demonetisation, Congress on Wednesday posed several questions to the Prime Minister including how much black money has come in and put forth a charter of demands including lifting all restrictions on money withdrawal and compensation to farmers, traders and the poor who have ‘suffered’ due to note ban.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also demanded that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi should double the MNREGA wages and the number of days each labourer can work, besides giving 50 per cent rebate in Income Tax and Sales Tax to shopkeepers and 20 per cent bonus on MSP for Rabi crops to farmers and waiving their loans.