Congress presents the Prime Minister with a charter of demands

Days before the Prime Minister is expected to make ‘important announcements’, either in a public rally in Lucknow on January 2 or in a broadcast to the nation earlier, Congress demanded the Government should withdraw the weekly limit on withdrawal of cash fixed at ₹24,000 on November 8.

The money in bank accounts belong to people, he added. It did not belong either to the Government or to the banks. Therefore there was no reason why people should not be allowed to withdraw as much of their own money as they need.

Releasing a charter of demands on Wednesday morning, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said that the irrational decision to demonetise 86% of the currency in circulation had hurt the poor, farmers, workers, pensioners and small traders and in all fairness the Government ought to compensate them.

The following are the other demands in the charter:

• Farmers be compensated with 20% bonus on Minimum Support Price
• A sum of ₹25,000 be deposited in the bank account of every woman in a BPL family
• Wages under the Employment Guarantee Scheme be doubled
• Sales Tax and Income Tax exemptions up to 50% be granted to small traders
• The MNREGA employment guarantee scheme be extended to 200 days from the current 100 days

The Prime Minister, said the Congress leader, owed a few explanations to the nation. The PM had asked for 50 days to reap the benefits of Demonetisation and to normalise the situation on the ground, he reminded. But although 50 days are going to be over tomorrow, the situation is far from normal. The Prime Minister, therefore, must explain a few things and answer a few of the following questions:

• How much black money has been recovered in the last 50 days?
• What has been the loss in terms of lives and employment during this period?
• Whether the Government has paid any compensation to people who died in queues outside banks and ATMs and if no compensation has been paid, why not.
• Let the PM furnish a list of people who deposited more than ₹25 lakhs in the two months preceding the November 8 announcement.
• Let the PM lay in Parliament a list of Indians with accounts in Swiss banks.

The Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Sambit Patra responded on NDTV by saying that the Congress should be reminded that it was in power for over 50 years and was answerable for the present plight of Indians.