Likening the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens with demonetisation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said these exercises are "tax" on the poor, who will suffer the same way they did after the note ban in November 2016.
He was talking to reporters after attending the inaugural function of the National Tribal Dance Festival in Raipur.
"Whether NPR or NRC, it is a tax on poor people of the country. You understand demonetisation. It was a tax on poor people. Go to banks and give your money but do not withdraw money from your account. Entire money went to the pocket of 15-20 rich people. This (NPR or NRC) is the same thing," he said.
He was responding to a query on the Centre's claim that the NPR has no link with NRC.
"Poor people will have to go to officers and show their documents and give bribe. They will have to give bribe if there is a slight mistake in their names. Crores of rupees will be pulled out of the pockets of the poor and will be given to the same 15 people. This is the truth. It is an attack on the people," he said.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party slammed Gandhi's remarks, saying he was the "liar of the year" for his numerous lies that had "embarrassed" people and even his party.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar accused the Congress of trying to fan instability by misleading people over issues related to citizenship, which have triggered protests in different parts of the country, but asserted that people were with the government on the new citizenship law and NPR.
Noting that these exercises did not involve any monetary transaction and the NPR data was used to identify targeted beneficiaries of welfare schemes, Javadekar hit back at the Congress, saying collecting tax was the "culture" of the opposition party, be it the "Jayanthi" tax, the "coal tax" or the "2G tax", a reference to the monikers used by the saffron party to describe several alleged scams under the UPA government.
The NPR exercise was undertaken in 2010 as well, the minister said.
"When Rahul Gandhi was the Congress president, he would say anything and lie all the time. Now he is no longer the president, but continues to lie. If there was a category of the liar of the year, he would be in it. His comments used to embarrass his family. His lies now embarrass his party and the entire country," Javadekar told reporters.
Asserting that the poor people are asking how will they get jobs, Gandhi said although the economy earlier grew at nine per cent, it has now declined to four per cent, that too if measured through a new technique.
"But if we measure the growth rate through the old method, then it will just be 2.5 per cent. Poor people are asking that after robbing them of their entire money, what have they got (in return)," he said.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Naredra Modi, he said, "It is being talked about in the world that India is reeling under violence; women are not allowed to roam freely on roads and the unemployment rate is at a 45-year high. But PM Narendra Modi is not able to understand it."
"Apparently he is not able to understand what happened and how it happened," he said.
"Earlier, he used to make mockery, but now he is not able to discharge the duties of a PM... The time of the country is being wasted," Gandhi added.
"The money of poor people and farmers was snatched after demonetisation. Ten to fifteen people of the country were benefited with Rs 3.50 lakh crore... Nobody is buying anything and factories are getting shut. It's a simple economics. It seems PM is not able to understand it," he said.
