‘Note ban was a big lie, derailed economy’ Govt mismanaged J&K issue: Ex-PM
Union finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday described demonetisation as a big lie and accused the Narendra Modi-led government of derailing a strong economy it had inherited from the UPA through its reckless policies.
The Congress was scathing in its assessment of the government in a resolution it moved on the second day of the party’s 84th plenary, saying the economy was being managed by “ignorant and incompetent policy makers”.
“The economy is in the hands of ignorant and incompetent policy makers who have derailed economic growth through reckless and bizarre policies such as demonetisation and a hasty imposition of a flawed goods and services tax (GST) regime,” the resolution moved by Chidambaram said.
He counted the mismanagement of the economy as the biggest failure of the government.
It had led to the collapse of the manufacturing sector, destruction of micro, small and medium businesses, paralysis of India’s banking sector, a severe dent in business confidence and rising inflation expectations of households,
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the resolution said.
“The task of development has to be continued by future generations. However, today, the Indian economy is decoupled from the world economy which is growing,” Chidamabaram said.
The views were shared by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who accused the Centre of messing up the economy.
Like Singh, Chidamabaram, too, tore into the government over its November 2016 decision to discontinue ~500 and ~1,000 banknotes. “Demonetisation was a big lie. RBI is still counting and won’t tell us how much money has come back. I would like to advice the RBI governor to go to Tirupati and get the hundi collectors. They count money faster than the RBI,” he said.
The Reserve Bank of India has not yet given the amount of demonetised currency returned to the banks. As on November 8, 2016, there were 1,716.5 crore pieces of ~500 and 685.8 crore pieces of ~1,000 notes in circulation, totalling ~15.44 lakh crore. Replying to an RTI query, it said in February the notes were still being “processed for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness”.
(With agency inputs) The Congress on Sunday accused the Modi government of mismanaging the Kashmir dispute, messing up the economy and following a foreign policy that was “personalised, confused and bereft of focus and direction”.
On the second day of its 84th plenary session, the Opposition kept up its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with his predecessor Manmohan Singh questioning the government’s economic policies.
“Modi said farmers’ income will be doubled in six years, it is a jumla-type statement unlikely to be achieved,” Singh said, as he expressed doubts over the Centre’s key agrarian agenda of doubling farmers’ income by 2020.
Singh again came down hard on the government over its demonetisation decision and “hurried” implementation of the goods and services tax (GST). “The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small-scale enterprises,” said Singh, who is widely credited with opening up the Indian economy as the finance minister.
The 85-year-old Congress leader was also critical of the government’s handling of Kashmir. “The government mismanaged the Jammu and Kashmir dispute like never before. The atmosphere in the state has been deteriorating day by day,” he said.
The criticism came a few hours after five civilians were killed in Pakistani firing along the line of control in Jammu’s Balakote.
The party also attacked Modi for pursuing a “personalised foreign policy”, saying it was “confused and bereft of focus and direction”.