Questions on demonetization and Amit Shah go missing on Rajya Sabha website

Questions raised by Samajwadi Party MPs Neeraj Shekhar and Ravi Prakash Verma regarding Amit Shah and Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank have gone missing from the Rajya Sabha website.

According to the National Herald, a the recent RTI query revealed that demonetised notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000 denomination tantamounting to the massive number of ₹745 crore were deposited in Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) and BJP President Amit Shah is still one of the directors of this bank. This query along with other questions on demonetization have gone missing from the Rajya Sabha website, thereby fuelling rumours of the BJP trying to gag any criticism of the demonetization.

The RTI query further raised the point that demonetization move was introduced within 5 days of the Rs 745 crores being deposited in the Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank. It was during this time that the government also took the decision to withdraw these notes. BJP president Amit Shah, a past Chairman of the bank, continues to serve as a director at ADCB. The said questions bearing the numbers 668 and 714 have gone missing from the RS website and redirect anyone who tries to view them to a blank page. The joint question bearing number 668 put up by Samajwadi MPs Neeraj Shekhar and Ravi Prakash Verma had raised questions on the details of Public Sector Banks and District Cooperative Banks where highest amount of demonetised currency notes were deposited along with the amount deposited bank-wise.

The question reads, “Whether as per the RTI information demonetised notes of ₹500 and ₹1000 have been deposited to the tune of ₹750 crores in only five days after demonetisation in Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank. If so then the details thereof,”.Neeraj Shekhar told National Herald that he had received a written reply from the government but did not know as to why it had been removed from the website. “I have brought it into the notice of the Rajya Sabha secretary and requested that the reply be uploaded on the website”. He further added that his question has been added to the starred category on the website.

The query further tried to dwell about the alleged deposits and if the government was inclined towards making any enquiries, if not that then why was the government shielding ‘black money hoarders and corrupt’. Similarly, another question put up by BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra Amar Shankar Sable, bearing registration number 714, asked state-wise details of amount deposited in cooperative societies, district cooperative banks, urban banks, state cooperative banks after demonetisation till March 31, 2017. The query also sought to seek details on whether these co-operative banks and societies in all states and union territories were allowed to change demonetised currency.Notably, these queries were earlier published in the ‘question list’ for July 24, thereby reiterating the fact that these questions were presented in front of the jury to go through the ballot and be considered valid for answering.