MARGAO
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dividing the country into 1 per cent super-rich comprising of 50 families and the rest 99 per cent comprising poor, farmers, working class and weaker sections, at a meeting held to mark the culmination of the State-wide 'Jan Jagruti Yatra' (Padayatra), at Fatorda, on Friday.
Launching a blistering attack on demonetisation in the country, Rahul termed demonetisation as an attack against 99 per cent of the poor, farmers, working class and the weaker sections of the society. “Demonetisation is not a surgical strike. It is fire-bombing of 99 per cent of the poor people of the country,” Gandhi remarked.
He also told the gathering how the demonetisation drive was undertaken to erase the Rs 8 lakh crore NPAs of banks so as to enable the latter to disburse more loans to the super-rich.
Rahul also challenged the Prime Minister to place the list of Indians who hold Swiss Bank accounts in that country, claiming that the Swiss authorities have handed over such a list to the government.
Starting off his address, Rahul said from the day the NDA government came to power, it has begun an “attack” on the poor.
Citing examples of his fight to protect the interest of the farmers, Rahul charged the Prime Minister of working towards snatching land from the poor while narrating instances of how the latter sought to pass this Bill in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Rahul claimed Modi tried to destroy MNREGA and snatch land from Adivasis in States like MP and Chattisgarh.
“The Prime Minister tried to split the country into two -- the super-rich which forms 1 per cent comprising of 50 families and the rest 99 per cent comprising of farmers, middle class and working class,” he told the gathering.
Gandhi said these very 50 families possess the largest share of the country's wealth and are the very people who travel with Modi in planes to USA and Australia. “The Congress party wants to get rid of corruption in the country. If the BJP raises steps against corruption, then it will get cent per cent support from the Congress party,” Gandhi remarked. He however lamented the fact that a “demonetisation drama” enacted by the government is not an action against corruption and black money but an “attack” against 99 per cent weaker sections of the country.
“All cash in not black money and all black money is not in the form of cash,” averred Gandhi, stating that black money is concentrated with 50 super-rich families comprising of 1 per cent of the country's population and not with the remaining 99 per cent honest people. Speaking about cashless economy, Rahul said the Congress was not against this measure. However, he said this has to be undertaken gradually so that the poor are not affected.
