Amarinder Singh brands demonetisation, gold limits as 'dictatorial'

Amarinder Singh on Thursday said that demonetisation and fixing a limit on gold jewellery and ornaments were "dictatorial" moves of the Narendra Modi-led government.

New Delhi, Dec 1: Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh on Thursday said that demonetisation and fixing a limit on gold jewellery and ornaments were "dictatorial" moves of the Narendra Modi-led government.

"Is the Modi government trying to replicate the Nazi ideology in India." he asked in a release issued here.

The Congress leader said gold was a "symbol of marital happiness" and had a lot of significance for Indian women.

The former Punjab Chief Minister challenged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to contest the Lok Sabha byelection from Amritsar in Punjab, saying "let it be a referendum on the Modi government's dictatorial demonetisation move".

Jaitley lost by a huge margin to Singh in the Amritsar constituency in the 2014 general elections.

Amarinder warned the government against exposing the common people to fraudsters through its "ill-conceived" demonetisation.

"It will backfire on the government, beginning with the coming assembly elections," he said.

"There is a lot of public resentment over the unplanned execution of demonetisation," the Congress leader said.

Expressing concern over the hacking of Congress' and its Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's Twitter accounts, he said the hacking episodes have exposed the vulnerability of the digital system which Modi was asking people to adopt.

Talking about former cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu's entry into the Congress, Amarinder said he was hopeful of meeting the soon.

"Sidhu will play an important role in Congress polls campaign in Punjab," he said.

Amarinder also criticised the Punjab government over the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue, saying Chief Minister Parkash Singh has not done anything to protect Punjab's river water for the past 10 years.

IANS