Demonetisation anniversary: Congress to hold nationwide protest, demands apology from Modi

New Delhi, Nov 7: To mark the second anniversary of demonetisation, the Congress said on Tuesday that it will hold protests across the country on November 9 and also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to the nation for "ruining and wrecking the Indian economy". Congress workers will hold protest demonstrations between 11am to 1pm that day.

While speaking to reporters, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said,''Two years ago, the Prime Minister announced demonetisation and gave three reasons for it - to curb black money, weed out fake notes and proscribe terror funding. Two years later, none of those objectives has materialised."

The contentious demonetisation exercise, which Tewari compared to that of Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq's ill-judged monetary reforms in the 14th century, led to never-ending queues outside the banks and ATMs across India.

"In fact, there is more cash in circulation today than it was two years ago when Modi announced demonetisation," Tewari said.

The decision to ban the two high-value currency notes was taken on November 8, the main opposition party has decided to defer the agitation by a day in view of the festival season.