Poor cashless, rich taking money via backdoor: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Rahul Gandhi has accused PM Narendra Modi of “waging a war” against the poor by rendering them “cashless,” even as P Chidambaram called the currency recall the “biggest scam” of the year that needed to be probed.

Addressing people at a wholesale market in Dadri on Tuesday, Gandhi said: “The PM has brought honest people on the streets while the rich and the corrupt are taking away money through the backdoor of banks.”

He alleged that the Centre was recycling the poor people’s money to bankroll rich. “It (currency recall) was done to ensure that the poor deposit their money in the banks, which will be used to repay the debt of around Rs 8 lakh crore owed by industrialists to banks.

Modiji wants the money of the poor to remain in the banks for the next six to eight months,” Gandhi alleged. “Only 2 paise out of Rs 100 is counterfeit. Two days after Modiji made the announcement, new currency were found on slain terrorists.

He says he will make the economy cashless. He has made it cashless indeed, the poor have no cash,” Gandhi said.

Highlighting the impact of the currency replacement drive in Nagpur on Tuesday, for mer FM Chidambaram dubbed it as a “thoughtless move”, “the worst assault” on the poor and worse than natural calamity for them.”