Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded a review, with at least some sort of rollback, of the demonetisation scheme, terming its implementation a total fiasco and seeking the intervention of the Chief Justice of India and of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in the matter. In a letter to the chief justices, Captain Amarinder requested them to treat his communication as a public interest petition and intervene in what he termed a clear violation of the people’s fundamental rights.Expressing concern over the violence triggered by demonetisation, coupled with deaths, suicides and other tragic losses, in various parts of the country, Captain Amarinder, during a media interaction here, called upon the government to look at some alternate solution to demonetisation. In any case, it was not achieving its objective of curbing black money, said Captain Amarinder, pointing out that huge sums of money in new currency were being recovered from individuals while the common people were unable to get even the bare minimum needed to survive.At a media interaction here, Captain Amarinder demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi come to Parliament and answer the opposition’s questions on the demonetisation issue, which he said would be a major election plank in Punjab.
Pointing out that he had warned of law and order problems, Captain Amarinder said a series of incidents of violence outside banks had been reported in various states, including U.P, Manipur etc, over the past two weeks. An intelligence report had, on November 30, warned of outbreak of violence due to cash crunch, he pointed out.The Indian society, said Captain Amarinder, was not ready for cashless transactions, with people not having access to even banks, leave alone credit and debit cards. He pointed out that in Punjab alone, as many as 7000 villages have no local bank branch.Captain Amarinder disclosed that, concerned over the shocking deaths and tragic losses being suffered by the people, including in his state Punjab, he had requested the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of India and the Punjab & Haryana High Court to treat his letter as a public interest petition and issue suitable directives to the government to prevent further aggravation of the tensions triggered by the ill-conceived demonetisation move.Captain Amarinder also lashed out at the Modi government for reducing the new currency notes to publicity leaflets for his government’s 'Swachch Bharat' scheme in violation of all political, electoral and economic norms. Terming the use of Swachch Bharat logo on currency notes as serious abuse of official powers and against all norms of electoral propriety, Captain Amarinder said he would raise the issue with the Election Commission. The official currency of any nation is sacrosanct and needs to be respected and honoured under all circumstances, but the prime minister had chosen to misuse the Indian rupee to promote a government campaign in complete violation of the spirit of the Republic of India, said Captain Amarinder.
In his letter to the chief justices, the Punjab Congress president said the demonetisation order lacked legal backing and was subject to judicial scrutiny since it was a mere notification. He also termed it a violation of the people’s right to use their property (bank account being property) under Article 31 of The Constitution of India. Further, he said in his petition that it was violative of the fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 as it deprived people of their right to business, profession, travel and access to health care.In the context of Punjab, Captain Amarinder said the agriculture sector, which was largely dependent on cash transactions, had been hit hard, along with the informal sector.The petition further went on to point that “no law passed by this country can be so done unilaterally by a majority Government in power, much less by a few persons in Government.” Laws relating to national security, money laundering, terrorism, corruption, are routinely dealt with in such manner, he pointed out, adding that the demonetization measure was ostensibly taken in national security, to reduce corruption and as a counter measure to fake currency, but by pushing it in this manner, the government had indulged in a serious contradiction with the spirit of the parent legislation.Questioning the secrecy behind the whole affair, and the assessment preceding the move, Captain Amarinder, in his petition, said it was not a question of a little inconvenience as the Modi government was trying to project. People have died, some committed suicide, lives destroyed, medical attention refused, marriages broken and hopes dashed, he pointed out, adding that the situation had now escalated to a travesty of justice and begging “intercession and remedy by your Court.”