#Politics | Oppn leaders slam demonetisation move ahead of 6th anniversary, call it ‘epic failure’, ‘jumla’

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge says “Demonetisation was promised to free the country of black money,” but “it destroyed businesses and ruined jobs” instead

From left: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and TRS K T Rama Rao. (Express)

AHEAD OF the sixth anniversary of the abrupt demonetisation move by the Modi government, the Opposition on Tuesday took it on, sharing articles about the return to high cash flow in the economy, , and questioning the BJP’s projection of it as a battle against black money and move towards a “cashless society”.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said “demonetization was promised to free the country of black money”, but “it destroyed businesses and ruined jobs” instead. “6 years after the ‘masterstroke’ the cash available in public is 72% higher than that in 2016. PM is yet to acknowledge this epic failure that led to fall of economy,” he said.

Calling the move a “colossal failure”, Telangana IT Minister and working president of the TRS K T Rama Rao said, “Let’s not forget how it crippled the growing Indian economy… This half-baked idea led to 8 consecutive quarters of slowdown, subsequently landing in Lockdown in 2020 serving a body blow to the vibrant economy.”

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted on Sunday about the move.

Demonetisation ‘success’ story: pic.twitter.com/Ucob2cp7H1

— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) November 6, 2022

The All India Professional Congress (AIPC) quoted former prime minister Manmohan Singh, saying the demonetisation exercise was “a case of organised loot, legalised plunder of the common people”.

Noting that “note bandi was nothing but a jumla”, Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed said, “Cash with public at record high of Rs 30.88 lakh crore. Even prior to demonetisation, it was only Rs 17.97 lakh crore. One of the stated aims of notebandi was to make India a ‘cashless economy’ “.

Vineet Punia, the secretary of the Congress and in-charge of internal communications, tweeted in Hindi: “Demonetisation was a major blow to India’s economy and a betrayal of the countrymen. Due to this arbitrary decision, the country suffered, the rapidly growing economy came to a halt. Modi ji took the decision… alone and he alone is responsible for its failure.”

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who was recently seen participating in the Telangana leg of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, said: “Another jumla done & dusted!… HE said he wanted a cashless society. Today HIS party is spending 10000s of crores in cash in elections & paying thousands of Crs in cash to buys elected MLAs from other parties”.

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Hitting out at Kharge’s tweet referring to an article, Amit Malviya, the BJP’s IT in-charge, said: “It would be better to go through the article first and understand context… the rise in currency in circulation in absolute numbers is not the reflection of reality.What needs to be taken into account is the currency to GDP ratio, which had come down after demonetisation.”

In another tweet, he said, “As the GDP grows, currency in circulation (CIC) is bound to increase. But, the percentage of share of CIC has actually gone down significantly and digitalisation has flourished after demonetisation, much to the discomfort and surprise of your corruption riddled UPA era.”

Ram Feran Pandey, a BJP MLA from the Shraswasti constituency in Uttar Pradesh said, “Mr Remote Control Congress President, You & your party leaders mocked PM Modi when he launched digital India movement but the reality is that just because of #Demonetisation, digital transactions increased rapidly & today, only UPI transactions crossed Rs 730 crores worth.”