Muslims excluded from banking; BJP, liberals trying to muzzle them: Owaisi

New Delhi: Claiming that the demonetisation scheme of the Narendra Modi government has been a complete failure, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that it has destroyed nearly 70% of the informal economy and 50% of white goods' economy.

Owaisi, in an NDTV article, further claimed that demonetisation has created havoc among the marginalised communities, whether Dalit or Adivasi or Muslim or women.

Substantiating his claim that the ban on high value currency has affected Muslims adversely, the AIMIM chief referred to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report which said that Indian Muslims constitute 14% of the total population, but their share in different financial assets categories is disproportionately low to their numbers. 

He further asserted that the World Bank CGAP Report has shown that in towns where the Muslim population is more than 50 per cent, only 53% of households have a bank account. Whereas, this percentage moves up to 68% if all urban areas are taken into account.

Muslims are excluded from all formal institutions like banks and cooperative societies, Owaisi stated, with a participation rate at just 3%.

90 per cent of loan applications made by Muslims to banks and finance corporations are rejected, Owaisi claimed.

“The moment I raise this issue of Muslims or Dalits or vulnerable sections, there immediately is an outcry that this man is being communal. How can it be communal when I am asking for more banks, more accounts? I am asking for more ATMs, more cash for ATMs as compared to other areas,” Owaisi said.

In the piece, Owaisi also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of calling anyone who questions demonetisation ‘anti-national’. “Then you have secular liberal parties which say ‘why did you raise it..you should not raise it’ as if they hold intellectual property rights on marginalised communities and Muslims,” he added, not sparing the Opposition parties either.

“The problem is that the governance system in our country is always pro-forward, pro-rich communities and never pro-slum or pro marginalised communities,” he stated.

Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday had claimed that adequate bank network was missing from Muslim areas.

"In many Muslim areas, banks are not present in the manner they should be. The proportion of loan distribution is also less (compared to other areas)," Owaisi said, after a meeting at Udgir in Latur district of Marathwada region on Monday.

"ATMs are not there. This is what is happening. People in the entire country are facing problems," he said.

"ATMs in Muslim-dominated areas were not functioning. If a bank is open (in Muslim areas), it is declared 'red zone'," the MP from Hyderabad further said.