Congress launches all-out attack at Centre as demonetisation completes seven years

New Delhi: The Congress party on Wednesday launched an all-out attack against the central government's demonetisation move, on a day the exercise completed seven years.

Leading the attack on the central leadership, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge termed the demonetization drive the biggest assault on India's economy and livelihood.

"Indians are still nursing the wound of this mindless giant attack," he wrote on his X timeline, alleging that the move left lakhs of small businesses shut, job loss, people's savings destroyed,

"But seven years down the line, people of India badly battered and bruised on that fateful night of November 8, are still searching for answers!" Kharge said. "Why were crores of people made to stand in lines, waiting for their own money?"

Further, he also asked whether the 'black money' menace wiped off, terror-related incidents stopped, and did fake currency decreased after the demonetization drive.

"Why couldn't we become a 'Cashless Economy' without wiping off 86.4 per cent notes at one go? Hasn't the Cash in Circulation now soared by a whopping 83 per cent since 2016?" he further asked.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi termed the 2016 move to be a well-thought-out conspiracy to destroy employment, stop the income of workers, eliminate small businesses, harm farmers, and break the unorganized economy.

Rahul Gandhi alleged it was an attack on 99 per cent of common Indians to benefit 1 per cent of capitalists.

Echoing the voice of his party boss Kharge and leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh joined the attack, alleging that the demonetization broke the back of the Indian economy and epitomised the unique combination of hubris, inhumanity and economic illiteracy that is the hallmark of the Modi government.

"Demonetisation along with a badly designed and hurriedly rushed through GST finished off India's job-generating small and medium businesses, caused a 45-year unemployment high, and ended the economic recovery that had begun in 2013, all while failing to achieve any of its stated objectives," Jairam said.

"It led to a record concentration of wealth and power, particularly among a handful of large monopolies that have sustained the BJP financially even as the people continue to grapple with joblessness and price rise caused by the same monopolization," Jairam said in an X post.

He cited a Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report that noted that 15 lakhs jobs were decimated from January to April 2017, equating it to be a likely result of demonetisation.

"Demonetisation was a monumental blunder that failed to achieve any of the shifting goalposts that the Modi government had proposed as objectives--whether reducing the spread of black money, ending counterfeiting or making India cashless," Jairam added.

Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also took on the Government on the issue.

Taking to his X timeline coinciding with the demonetisation exercise turning seven, the Congress leader asked the Prime Minister whether he should "celebrate the occasion or mourn for abysmal failure."

"Respected PM @narendramodi Ji, today is the 7th anniversary of #DEMONITIZATION touted as your visionary step for ERADICATION OF BLACK MONEY from India. Now should we celebrate the occasion or mourn for abysmal failure," Adhir Chowdhury posted on X.

The Centre had on November 8, 2016, decided to cancel the legal tender status of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination currency notes with several objectives, including flushing out black money, eliminating Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), striking at the root of financing of terrorism and left-wing extremism, to convert non-formal economy into a formal economy to expand tax base and employment, and to give a big boost to digitalisation of payments to make India a less cash economy.

As a result of the demonetisation drive, there is a substantial increase in the number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed, the government has on various occasions maintained.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier noted that the demonetisation exercise helped reduce black money, increase tax compliance and formalization and give a boost to transparency. The Prime Minister had also said,

"These outcomes have been greatly beneficial towards national progress."

There have been accusations that many Indians have parked black money in foreign safe havens, with political parties promising to bring them back and book those individuals under relevant law. (ANI)