On
November 8, 2016, when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the
withdrawal of the legal tender of currency notes of denominations of Rs 500 and
Rs 1000- he claimed that this exercise would prevent the funding of terrorism
by the use of fake notes. Substantial part of his speech emphasized that the aim
of this decision was to end the circulation of fake notes and thereby curb
terror funding. Barely two months down
the line, it has now emerged that this bogey of Shri Modi, which the common man
believed and stood in long queues for is a big fat lie. As per various media
reports and recent arrests, it has now surfaced that Pakistan-based
counterfeiters have come out with fake Rs 2000 notes which were pushed by
smugglers through the porous India-Bangladesh border.
The
latest seizures were made on February 8 in Murshidabad from one Azizur Rahman
(26), who belongs to Malda in West Bengal. Rahman, who was carrying 40 fake
notes of Rs 2,000 denomination, told investigators that they had been printed
in Pakistan, allegedly with the help of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI),
and had been smuggled across the border from Bangladesh.
Even
as the 125 crore people of India were queuing up in lines infront of banks, facing
every hardship possible, believing the solemn words of Modi, who promised to ‘fight
terrorism and fake notes’, the ISI was printing fake notes and smuggling it to
India.
Even as more than 120 plus people
died because of the unending chaos and distress unleashed by demonetisation,
the deep state in Pakistan which is inimical to India was planning their next
move by copying 11 out of 17 features of the new notes and readying the counterfeit
currency to be circulated for abetting terror.
Even
as the common man struggled to withdraw his/her own hard earned money from the
banks in Rs 2000 denomination, Pakistan’s ISI only required half the quantity
and half the speed to counterfeit the same amount of notes to fund terror in
India.
While
announcing the unwitting decision of demonetisation, Modi had stressed “Terrorism
is a frightening threat. So many have lost their lives because of it. But have
you ever thought about how these terrorists get their money? Enemies from
across the border run their operations using fake currency notes. This has been
going on for years. Many times, those using fake 500 and 1,000 rupee notes have
been caught and many such notes have been seized.” But the recent
arrests of in Murshidabad and Malda have busted this bubble of Shri Modi.
In his 4205 word 'Address to the Nation' announcing Demonetisation, atleast 250 words were solely dedicated to fighting fake currency and terrorism
Shockingly,
the seized notes have showed that at least 11 of the 17 security features in
the new Rs 2,000 notes had been replicated. They included the transparent area,
watermark, Ashoka Pillar emblem, the letters ‘Rs 2000’ on the left, the
guarantee clause with the RBI governor’s signature and the denomination number
in Devanagari on the front, the report says. According to experts, the motif of
Mangalayan, the Swachh Bharat logo and the year of printing had been copied on
the reverse side. Although the print and paper quality of the seized
counterfeits was poor, they resembled genuine notes, it says. Besides, the
seized notes had the water mark and a crackling sound, similar to genuine
currency, various media reports say.
It
is important to note that the Union Finance Ministry had informed a
Parliamentary Committee that smuggling of fake currency has totally stopped
post demonetisation and the tax department has seized Rs 515 crore in cash,
including Rs 114 crore of new currency notes, up to January 10. Tall claims of Modi
and his Ministers that ‘fake currency circulation is an issue of the past’ have
however evaporated in thin air.
A
grave National Security threat has now emerged and a serious situation has
precipitated due to this arbitrary step of demonetisation. Terrorists and the
ISI who was printing a certain amount of Rs 1000 currency notes now have to
print just half the quantity of Rs 2000 notes of the same amount.
The
largest share of the Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) that circulates in India
is believed to be originating not from nondescript local presses inside the
country, but from high-grade, state-owned minting factories in Pakistan. There
is a mountain of evidence, made public
by international agencies including the National Investigation Agency (NIA),
Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and Interpol have pointed fingers at the
Government of Pakistan for creating and sustaining a transnational FICN racket
that spans from West Asia to Southeast Asia. A day after the demonetisation
policy was made public, Kiren Rijiju, the Union minister of state for Home
Affairs, boastfully stated that the “the printing press in Karachi and Peshawar
will now be jobless” as a result of demonetisation”
However, RBI
officials on record had confirmed earlier that the new
notes do not carry any new security features.
In
addition, till date, the Government of India through the Security Printing and
Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), imports a bulk of the paper used
in minting currency notes from European companies like Louisenthal (Germany),
De la Rue (United Kingdom), Crane (Sweden,) and Arjo Wiggins (France and
Netherlands). So does Pakistan. India imports the OVI Intaglio security ink — a
distinctive security component of every currency note — from SICPA, a Swiss
company that manufactures high-performance security ink; and it is a known fact
that SICPA also deals with Pakistan.
Therefore, it is fair to say that the Modi
Government by its demonetisation decision has effectively abetted the
circulation of fake notes, instead of preventing it. Now the counterfeit currency
printing presses in Pakistan can print the same amount of money in lesser
numbers which is much easier to smuggle, thereby cheating the people of India.
It
is important to draw the attention of the people of India to this humongous
blunder committed by PM Modi and his Government. Let Narendra Modi voice
another ‘address to the nation’ and publically apologize to the people of India
for endangering India’s National Security apparatus and inflicting such misery
and pain to the 125 cr people of India.
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