Congress puts party above nation: PM Narendra Modi defends demonetisation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress and Left parties on Friday for opposing his government’s move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes move, dubbing it as a war against black money.

“For the BJP and the NDA, the country is bigger than party. For the Congress, party is more important than the country,” parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar quoted Modi as saying.

Asking the BJP’s MPs to go cashless, Modi pointed out how in 2012, the Supreme Court asked the UPA government to constitute a special investigating team on black money, but it did nothing for the next three years.

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“They did nothing. But our first decision after coming to power was to form an SIT,” Kumar quoted Modi as saying at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting on the last day of the winter session of Parliament.

“Left MP Jyotirmay Basu had once favoured demonetisation. But today, see what the communists are doing,” Modi said, taking potshots at the CPI(M), a vocal critic of demonetisation.

The demonetisation move triggered a washout of Parliament’s winter session, making it the worst performing session for the BJP.

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Modi underlined that the BJP and its NDA partners have started a “war” against the black money, while the Opposition parties are standing on the opposite side of this war.

Modi’s address to party MPs comes on a day when Opposition leaders will go to President Pranab Mukherjee to protest against demonetisation and the government’s alleged high-handedness in running Parliament.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who earlier levelled corruption charges against Modi, also met him as part of a delegation to highlight farmers’ plight in Uttar Pradesh.