THE Modi government has demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes only to benefit the corporate sector and online companies (e-commerce) would earn more in India compared to the US, Canada and other countries as a result of building digital, cashless economy , said  BV Raghavulu, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member at a seminar organised by  Vijayawada central city committee of CPI(M) on January 11.

Addressing the seminar held at  Makineni Basavapunniah Vignana Kendram, Raghavulu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was helping corporates with initiatives such as demonetisation. He observed that there was no truth in the government claims that secrecy was maintained to ensure that corrupt people would not get alerted about demonetisation. On the one hand, the RBI says that this exercise was going on for the last six months, while on the other, the government claims that secrecy was maintained, he pointed out.

The RBI has issued guidelines 76 times till now, giving rise to doubts over its autonomy. There have been findings by many committees indicating that black money in the form of cash is only 6 percent and even the report given by Pranab Mukherjee, president of India, a few years ago had noted similar findings, Raghavulu said.

It is a fallacy that note ban will result in wiping out terrorism, and a glaring example of this is USA, where you cannot find counterfeit currency but terrorism persists, he pointed out. Terrorists in the world are adopting sophisticated technology like e-transactions; therefore saying note ban will do away with terrorism is farce, he underlined. There is no country in the world which is completely cashless. But still the Modi government is making efforts to build a cashless society in our country only to benefit the corporates, he lambasted.

Banks have been flooded with deposits of more than Rs 15 lakh crores and the government is clueless about the extent of black money in cash, he satirically remarked. Modi government is making these policies like Tuglaq, he stated. But Tuglaq had tried to correct his mistakes, where as the Modi government refuses to even acknowledge the sufferings of the people, he criticised. Unorganised sections are the worst hit due to the note ban and the government has done precious little to ameliorate their conditions. It is time to expose the misdeeds of the Modi government among the people mobilise them for struggles.

CH Baburao, CPI(M) state secretariat member also explained as to how unorganised  sections are losing their livelihood due to note ban and the demand for work is shrinking in cities like Vijayawada.

D Vishnuwardhan, secretary of Vijayawada central city committee presided over the seminar.