Congress party Chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Congress party Chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

The Congress on Monday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks in the ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio programme saying he talked of moving towards a cashless society when a very small population of the country used plastic money. “The Prime Minister, in his programme yesterday, said the youth and tech-savvy should help others in moving towards a cashless society. But, he must remember what percentage of the people uses credit and debit cards.

“People are dying due the impact of demonetisation and he makes such remarks. Modi is insensitive,” Congress leader Anand Sharma told a gathering of Youth Congress workers and NSUI members in front of the IYC office on Raisina Road here, on the occasion of ‘Jan Aakrosh Diwas’ called by the opposition parties. “Modiji doesn’t do ‘Mann Ki Baat’. He only likes listening to himself and doing what he pleases,” he alleged.

Modi, in his radio programme, had appealed to the people to shift to a cashless system of transactions and asked the youth to help in the process by educating the elders and those not literate.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala attacked the prime minister saying he must also “try to listen to the voices of those whose family members had died due to the impact of demonetisation”. “Modiji has started this problem and instead of indulging in a political slugfest with the Opposition, he and his government should try to find a solution to it,” he said. Surjewala reiterated his party’s stand of demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Centre’s demonetisation decision, which the Congress alleged was a “scam”. He added that by a single disastrous decision, the prime minister has brought entire country to a standstill.

Sharma said even in the US, “dollars are used as black money but they don’t suddenly remove their currency”. “Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes accounted for about 86 per cent of the currencies in circulation. Is he saying that 86 per cent of the money was black? Modi has denigrated the country by this move and he must apologise to the nation,” the Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said.

NSUI workers later attempted to take out a march towards Parliament but were prevented by the police who detained them after they tried to climb the barricade. Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda also took part in the protest.

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