DEHRADUN: Terming demonetisation as the "century's biggest scam", senior Congress leader Anand Sharma today asked the Centre to issue a white paper on it, saying if his party came to power, it will order a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the move.
According to the third quarter projections, the growth rate has dropped by one per cent due to demonetisation and there is a downturn in both investment and industrial production, he said at a press conference here.
Though the step was taken to fight corruption, black money, the scourge of counterfeit currency and funding of terror activities, it had failed to achieve these goals, he said.
"All cash is not black money. Black money is in the bullion market, real estate and in foreign exchange. By withdrawing 85 percent currency in circulation, Rs 15 lakh crore cash has been turned into trash in one go, but after note ban, 58 percent cash returned to the banks defeating the very objective of the move," he alleged.
The former Union minister, who was here to campaign for Congress for the February 15 Uttarakhand Assembly polls, said the Centre was talking about going cashless at a time when the whole country has to do without basic facilities like toilets.
Sharma said Congress had not boycotted Parliament but the Prime Minister over the latter's "raincoat" barb at his predecessor Manmohan Singh.
He also accused Narendra Modi of insulting people of Uttarakhand by making a light-hearted reference to the recent earthquake in the state during a speech in Parliament.