NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest demonetisation barf is "shell firms."
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, "The PM's latest Demonetisation barf is, "Shell Firms". Ironically, the only "Shell" firms identified after the great Demonetisation tragedy are: JAY SHAH'S - Temple Enterprises, PIYUSH GOYAL's - Flashnet, ANIL AMBANI'S - Reliance Airports. It takes a thief to know a thief."
Gandhi took to Twitter to vent his anger after the Prime Minister on Monday lashed out at the Congress president and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi while addressing a gathering at Bilaspur. Prime Minister Modi said, "Due to demonetisation, over three lakh shell companies were closed. It is the result of demonetisation that your company (National Herald) was caught and you had to seek bail."
"The mother-son duo, who are out on bail, are giving me a certificate and asking from me the benefits of demonetisation. Those who are out on bail are distributing certificates of honesty," he said sarcastically in an apparent reference to the fact that the mother-son duo have secured bail in the National Herald case.
Rahul Gandhi has been questioning Prime Minister Modi about the benefits of note ban and accused the Prime Minister of being silent on the issue. The Congress has been continuously asserting that demonetisation had tarnished the image of India globally.
On November 8, 2016, the Centre had declared Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as non-legal and introduced new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes. Since then, various opposition parties have been highly critical of the Centre's move, while the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have backed the decision.
On the second anniversary of demonetisation on Thursday, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley posted a strong defense of demonetisation, saying that the note ban had a huge impact on formalising the Indian economy.