The government’s flip-flops on demonetisation don’t seem to end, and nor does the anger at them on social media.
A day after the Reserve Bank of India announced that you only have one chance to deposit more than Rs 5,000 in older notes before December 30 – and only after providing explanations to bank officials – Indians took to Twitter and Facebook to express their ire.
It started with Yogendra Yadav, former Aam Aadmi Party leader and currently president of Swaraj India, tweeting an image of an “explanation” he gave to his bank for “making a small deposit”. The tweet included a handwritten letter, which reads: “I see no reason to offer any special explanation for the same [for making the deposit now]. I normally like and wait for the queues to end.”
On Monday, the Finance Ministry had announced in a statement that a new decision had been taken regarding currency deposit in banks: “To reduce the queues in the banks, it has now been decided that amounts exceeding Rs 5,000 in old notes can be deposited only once between now and December 30, 2016.”
The ministry said that any deposit of over Rs 5,000 will be subject to questioning by two bank officials, who have to be given a “satisfactory explanation” for why the old notes were not deposited earlier.
This went against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance during his special televised address that people would be free to deposit all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes until December 30, with no limit.
Like Yadav, other irate citizens decided to cite the government’s word as the reason for waiting to make their deposits.
Social media users also pointed out old notifications by the Reserve Bank of India, and government ads, to call out the government’s U-turn.
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