The Gujarat Congress on Tuesday staged protests outside the regional office of Reserve Bank of India to mark the second anniversary of demonetisation. The party also held similar protests in other parts of the state. The demonstrations were part of the party's nation-wide protest held on November 9 against the note ban. Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the state unit did not organise the protest on November 9 due to bhai dooj. The protests were staged in all districts of the state, while workers chanted slogans against PM Narendra Modi and the union government. Speaking at the protests in Ahmedabad, state Congress president Amit Chavda said that the note ban announcement on November 8, 2016, had failed to achieve any of its purported aims, and said they want to know who had benefited from it. "Demonetisation neither helped in finding black money nor in curbing black money. Instead, it adversely affected the country's economy, led to joblessness and affected small and medium businesses," he said. On November 8, 2016, prime minister Narendra Modi scrapped currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, turning 86 per cent of the total currency in circulation to paper overnight. The decision led to acute cash shortage across the country, with small businesses bearing the brunt of it. Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank informed that as much as 99.3 per cent of the scrapped currency notes had been deposited with banks, raising several question marks on the efficacy of the note ban. (with agency inputs)

Stay updated with all the Ahmedabad Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.