Opposition Takes Govt to Task, Says BJP Painting 'Rosy Picture' of Demonetisation

New Delhi: Opposition in Rajya Sabha on Monday took the government to task for ignoring the woes of the common man hit hard by demonetisation and attacked the BJP members for only painting a "rosy picture" to the Prime Minister as they were "scared".

Congress leader Rajeev Shukla, participating in a debate on the Motion of Thanks for President's address, said it was a "disappointment" as there was nothing new in it.

He said every speaker from the ruling BJP was "only painting a rosy" picture to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the demonetisation move as "everyone is scared".

While speaker after speaker from the government side have spoken about how people were happy with the note ban, "the same leaders when they met privately over a cup of tea in Parliament's Central Hall spoke about the problems being faced by the people".

"I can understand when people are scared of losing their jobs. But it is the responsibility of the MPs to tell the Prime Minister the truth," he said.

Maintaining that small traders, farmers and unorganised sector workers have been hit very hard, he pointed out that despite there being no religious festival, trains to Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal were crowded as people were going back after losing their jobs in cities and rural areas of North India.

Noting that the manufacturing sector has also been hit hard, he said alluded to 'inspector raj' and said "on top of it, the government has ensured that one "inspector is put behind each manufacturer. If they (manufacturers) are running away, how will you provide jobs."

Observing that the President's address had referred to the cross-border surgical strike, he said three such operations were carried out during the Congress-led rule which were spoken about only by a former Army chief and the Foreign Office.

Given the level of publicity, "I thought it was like they had reached Islamabad," Shukla said.

"Even when Indira Gandhi fought the 1971 war, there was no such publicity," he said, adding that the Modi government was interested only in publicity and does it so much that it becomes over-publicity.

Shukla's contentions received support from other Opposition members, including Sanjay Seth (SP) and Sharad Yadav (JD-U).