Asserting that the Modi government's recent move to withdraw Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes was causing hardship to people, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that four lakh jobs had already been lost.
“About four-lakh people have lost their jobs after the demonetisation,” he told reporters.
The CPI (M) leader added that 32 million people have not been paid their wages.
He pointed out that as many as 16 notifications had been brought out by the Centre on this issue till now.
Mr. Yechury also took to twitter to claim that the move was adversely affecting people, sharing a newspaper report that said this was the immediate number of people, mostly daily wage labourers, out of employment in sectors like garments, leather and jewellery.
He shared a report claiming India had the lowest ATM density among BRICS nations, at 18 ATMs per one lakh population.
Mr. Yechury tweeted to elaborate his point, sharing 2014 data on ATM density in India, compared to other BRICS nations. India ranked last with just 18 ATMs per one-lakh people.
“Digital payments, ATMs, rural banking, cash transactions. Well, facts don't matter when one man gets a brainwave,” he said.
He tweeted just before this: “In Modi govt, 1.12-lakh crore loans waived, 1% Indians have 58.4% of wealth, millions of jobs lost. To distract, demonetisation disaster.”
Claiming the move to be disastrous to farmers, Mr. Yechury tweeted: “Whether cotton or wheat, Modi's Tughlaqi firman of demonetisation is an unmitigated disaster for farmers across India.”
Addressing a peasants' rally here at Jantar Mantar, Mr. Yechury said the Modi government should waive loans of farmers to ameliorate their sufferings as it has done for corporates.
The left party has also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the demonetisation move.
