SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Wednesday questioned the Centre’s demonetisation move and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “ambassador” of corporate houses.
Reacting to the death of a farmer in Garo Hills, Sangma said the demonetisation move was for the benefit of a few corporate houses rather than fighting corruption or curb the flow of black money or terror funding.
“He (Narendra Modi) has become the ambassador of corporate houses,” the Chief Minister told reporters. He criticised Modi for being “insensitive and arrogant” by not reacting to the deaths that occurred post scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
The farmer in Garo Hills committed suicide last week and his family has blamed demonetisation for the death. He could not withdraw money to pay back a loan of Rs 10,000 as the bank he had an account with was facing shortage of new currency notes.
People from all walks of life, including farmers, are suffering due to cash shortage and the high denomination of Rs 2,000 is inconveniencing all, Sangma pointed out and vowed to flag the problems in a letter to the Prime Minister.
“The demonetisation exercise has dislocated the whole momentum of economic activities at all levels and it was done with due diligence. The move was to please a few business houses,” Sangma said.