Remove Mahatma Gandhi's pic from ₹2,000, ₹500 notes: Raj MLA to PM

Jaipur: Rajasthan Congress MLA Bharat Singh Kundanpur wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the removal of Mahatma Gandhi's picture from ₹500 and ₹2,000 currency notes claiming that these notes were used in corruption and in bars.

Bharat Singh said Gandhi's pictures on the denominations of ₹5, ₹10, ₹50, ₹100 and ₹200 should be retained as the poor of the nation use it and Mahatma Gandhi dedicated his life towards the upliftment of the poor. He suggested PM Modi replace the father of the nation’s picture in these high-value currency notes with that of his iconic spectacles.

“It is my suggestion that a picture of Gandhi's spectacles can be used on ₹500 and ₹2,000 currency notes. Ashok Chakra can also work effectively for this purpose,” the Sangod MLA Bharat Singh wrote in his letter to PM Modi, according to news agency PTI.

“Mahatma Gandhi symbolises truth and Gandhi's picture is printed on ₹500 and ₹2,000 notes, which are generally used in practices of corruption and in exchange for bribes. The high-value currency notes are being used in bars which are a disgrace to ‘Mahatma Gandhi’,” he said.

“Gandhi's portrait should be removed from ₹500 and ₹2,000 currency notes and it should be used only on small currency notes which are used by the poor,” he further added.

The Sangod lawmaker drew attention to the rise in cases of corruption in the nation as well as in his state Rajasthan. He highlighted that a total of 616 graft cases were registered between January 2019 and December 31, 2020, with an average of two cases registered per day. He said that corruption ravaged the nation for the last seven and a half decades.