NEW DELHI: Congress and JDU today demanded a white paper on demonetisation and asked the Narendra Modi government to tell people what did it achieve by the note ban. "A white paper should be presented on demonetisation. The government should tell people what has it achieved after it. Let people who lost their jobs and faced hardships know. "The government has changed the narrative from black money to e-payments," Congress leader Sachin Pilot said in a debate at India Today's Budget Aaj Tak conclave here. He said people will respond to demonetisation in the elections and the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance will win the UP Assembly polls.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already announced several schemes in his December 31 speech and wondered what Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will say on the budget day. Pilot said the decision to scrap high-value currency notes "tarnished" the image of the Reserve Bank of India and its Governor as "several changes" were made in notifications. JDU's Pavan Varma wanted to know what steps the government intended to take after demonetisation. "We supported demonetisation, but we want to know how much ill-gotten money has been recovered and what steps have been taken to bring back black money stashed abroad," he said. Varma also stressed the need for bringing about electoral reforms and said all parties "have been evading this crucial issue". To this, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said: "Yes, there has been discontent on this among people. The PM has very clearly said the issue needed to be discussed in the Winter Session. Let's have a discussion on this and bring a law."
Responding to Opposition's criticism over BJP manifesto for UP polls promising construction of Ram temple, he said: "The issue is in its manifesto since party's 1989 Palampur Resolution". Attacking Trinamool Congress, which vociferously opposed the note ban, Patra said that while the West Bengal government claimed its revenue went down post rationing of notes, its MP Derek O'Brien in a tweet had said the state GDP spiked in the past two months.