The Congress party has levelled a serious allegation against the BJP-led NDA government by saying that the RBI printed two different kinds of currency notes after demonetisation. They termed it as the "biggest scam of the century" pointing out several discrepancies seen in the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) following the controversial note ban in November last year.
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala has tweeted a series of pictures of the Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes showing discrepancies in the size of the notes and placement of several symbols and letters like the Ashoka pillar emblem, the words Mahatma Gandhi and the latent image of the denominational numeral among others.
Also Read: Demonetisation 'biggest fraud of century'? 2 types of Rs 500 notes helped BJP: Sibal
"How can our currency of the same denomination i.e Rs 500 & Rs 2000 notes have different size & features as demonstrated by @KapilSibal in PC?" tweeted Surjewala, substantiating Congress veteran and former Union minister Kapil Sibal's claim that different currency notes were printed, one of which was used by the BJP during the elections to bribe voters.
"India's currency is digitised & printed by RBI in most secure conditions. Difference in size, marks & features raises bonafide questions," he added.
It may be mentioned that a slight variation in the size of currency notes and placement of symbols and letters is possible, as it has happened in the past. The RBI had sent out a notice via a press release dated December 8, 2016 about a slight change in the notes, saying that the bank would "issue Rs 500 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, without any inset letter, bearing signature of Dr Urjit R. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and the year of printing '2016' printed on the reverse of the banknote."
The issue about different sizes of the currency notes may not hold water. But the Congress party's allegation that one type of note was printed for the BJP for the purpose of elections and the other printed for the government is something which needs deeper examination.
Kapil Sibal created an uproar in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday by claiming that the Congress party has found out the reason why the BJP-led Centre took the decision of demonetisation. He alleged that the RBI printed two types of currency notes with different designs – one was circulated in public through banks and the other was used by BJP leaders to bribe voters during the elections.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has played down the currency discrepancies allegation describing it as "irresponsible remarks". Further, sources in the finance ministry said that the government had never suggested printing two different sets of currency notes.
