Fall in GDP growth in 2020 linked to demonetisation in 2016: Rahul

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi, in a new video targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 2016 demonetisation, linked the move to the negative GDP shock and said the country "must unite and fight" what he called the attack on the poor, farmers and unauthorised sector.

"PM Modi's cashless India is in reality a mazdoor-kisan-chhota vyapari mukt Bharat (India free of farmers, labourers, small traders)," the Congress leader said.

"The frightening impact of the dice rolled on November 8, 2016 was revealed on August 31 2020."

Government data for the quarter ended June 30 showed a 23.9 per cent GDP drop - the steepest contraction in over 40 years.

मोदी जी का ‘कैश-मुक्त’ भारत दरअसल ‘मज़दूर-किसान-छोटा व्यापारी’ मुक्त भारत है।

जो पाँसा 8 नवंबर 2016 को फेंका गया था, उसका एक भयानक नतीजा 31 अगस्त 2020 को सामने आया।

GDP में गिरावट के अलावा नोटबंदी ने देश की असंगठित अर्थव्यवस्था को कैसे तोड़ा ये जानने के लिए मेरा वीडियो देखिए। pic.twitter.com/GzovcTXPDv

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 3, 2020

In the second video of his series on "How the Modi government has destroyed Indian economy", Rahul Gandhi said the hidden motive of the notes ban was to waive loans of corporates after taking out money from the informal sector.

"On November 8, at 8 PM," the PM announced the move that left "the entire country queueing up at banks", Mr Gandhi says in the video.

"What was the benefit of the move? Was there black money? No. What did the poor get from the notes ban? Nothing. So who gained? Only the industrialists. Your money was used to waive loans to some industrialists," he alleges.

The former Congress president also alleged a "hidden purpose" of demonetisation. "This was a way of taking out all the cash from the unorganized sector, which only works on cash.

The PM said he wants cashless India. That means the unorganized sector is finished," he said.

In his first video on August 31, Mr Gandhi had alleged that the government had been attacking the informal sector for the past six years. The aim of demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the virus lockdown was to "destroy this sector", he said.