Our Correspondent / New Delhi
Several opposition parties are planning to observe November 8 as black day across the country. Protest rallies will be organized on that day against ill effects of Demonitisation or popularly known as ‘Notebandi’ on the people and the country.
It was on November 8, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a televised message to the nation announced that Rs 1000 and 500 notes will no more be a ‘legal tender’.
“To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the five hundred rupee and thousand rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016. This means that these notes will not be acceptable for transactions from midnight onwards. The five hundred and thousand rupee notes hoarded by anti-national and anti-social elements will become just worthless pieces of paper. The rights and the interests of honest, hard-working people will be fully protected” PM said adding that the step will strengthen the hands of the common man in the fight against corruption, black money and fake currency.
But soon after RBI released the annual report and said 99 per cent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the banking system, opposition is up in arms attacking prime minister and government for what they called ‘ betrayal of people faith’
The main opposition party Congress is mobilizing the entire opposition parties for a joint protest strategy to expose the government. “Observing black day on Nov 8 2017 is part of this plan’, said a senior congress leader. The idea was echoed by Left parties TMC and RJD, sources said.
Congress Sources said that party is in cantact with the West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI, CPM and others opposition parties to participate in the Black Day program.
The Congress yesterday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to people for the demonetisation, describing it as the country’s “biggest scam” which had inflicted “misery” on the people and dealt a “body blow” to the economy.
The Reserve Bank, which has so far shied away from disclosing the actual number of junked currency deposited after November 8 last year, said in its Annual Report for 2016-17 that Rs 15.28 lakh crore of the junked currency had come back into the banking system, leaving only Rs 16,050 crore out.
As on November 8, 2016, there were 1,716.5 crore pieces of Rs 500 and 685.8 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 in circulation, totaling Rs 15.44 lakh crore.
Post-demonetisation RBI spent Rs 7,965 crore in 2016-17 on printing new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 and other denomination notes, more than double the Rs 3,421 crore spent in the previous year.
The demonetisation was hailed as a step that would curb black money, corruption and check counterfeit currency but RBI said just 7.1 pieces of Rs 500 note per million in circulation and 19.1 pieces of Rs 1,000 notes per million in circulation were found to be fake in its sample survey.
Former finance minister P Chidambaram said, “RBI ‘gained’ Rs 16000 crore, but ‘lost’ Rs 21000 crore in printing new notes! The economists deserve Nobel Prize.”
“Demonetisation is the biggest scam, as the government has helped the wrong people legitimise their illegitimate money through it and has betrayed the poor people of the country with false promises,” Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said.
He stressed it was the prime minister’s “direct responsibility as it was his personal decision”.
“The prime minister should take moral responsibility by accepting his mistake and apologise,” he told reporters here. Sharma alleged demonetisation had led to a GDP loss of Rs 2.25 lakh crore.
“Once the honour of the prime minister’s word is gone and the trust of the people destroyed, then where is his credibility and where does he stand,” he asked.
The Congress’s attack came after the Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report yesterday that banks had received Rs 15.28 lakh crore or 99 per cent of the invalidated currency.
The senior Congress leader wondered what the note ban decision had achieved as 99 per cent of the money had been returned, and accused the prime minister of “changing the narrative” on the issue repeatedly.
“Why were people imposed with a burden of printing new notes costing Rs. 8000 crores; ATM recalibration cost of over Rs. 35,000 crores in addition to the loss of economic activity estimated by the CMIE and others to the tune of Rs. 1,50,000 crores?’ asked CPM general Secretary Sitaram Yechuri