Rahul Gandhi demands action against Modi's industrialist friends

Continuing his tirade against the government's demonetisation move, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today alleged that no action was being taken against the "real black marketeers" and the "industrialist friends" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pledging solidarity with the common man's sufferings, he also made an unscheduled brief stop at an ATM in suburban Vakola and interacted with the people standing in a queue there, while he was returning from Bhiwandi in neighbouring Thane district where a court granted him bail in a defamation case.

"Those who are real black marketeers, those who have Rs 10-20,000 crore, those who go with Modi in planes, action should be taken against them. No action is being taken. "There is no investigation or action taken against Modiji's industrialist friends," Rahul told reporters outside Bhiwandi court.

"You are being made to stand in queues. Your money will be given to those select 15-20 industrialists. You all know their names. He (Modi) is running their government," the Congress leader alleged. Earlier, addressing Congress supporters who gathered outside the court, Rahul said long queues before banks and ATMs had caused problems for the common man.

"The masses are standing in a queue. Do you see any rich person, a big industrialist standing in queue," Rahul sought to know. "Did you get Rs 4000 notes? Did you get indelible ink mark on your hands," he said.

Later, while returning from Bhiwandi, Rahul stopped at the ATM of a public sector bank in Vakola here as he saw a long queue and interacted with the people, Congress leader Kripashankar Singh told PTI.

Congress's twitter handle also posted a picture of Rahul meeting people in the queue. "Listening to people's woes as they try & access their hard earned money, SBI ATM, Vakola, Mumbai," the tweet read.

In a vitriolic attack on Modi over demonetisation, Rahul had last night said the Prime Minister was "laughing" while people were dying in queues outside banks and ATMs to withdraw money and the move will turn out to be a "big scam". The government did not seem to be going after the "big players" in black money like Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi, he had said. He had also claimed that BJP members were alerted beforehand about the demonetisation.