The current cash crunch sparked by demonetisation of high value currencies will last till May, said former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, here on Saturday.
Speaking at a Congress party convention, Mr. Chidambaram observed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision had no logic and it hugely impacted 132 crore people of the nation. He had violated the rules of the Reserve Bank of India, Mr. Chidambaram alleged, adding that Mr. Modi’s actions smacked of authoritarianism.
Mr. Modi had claimed that demonetisation would help eradicate black money, terror money and corruption, but nothing of that sort happened. Instead, only the common man was put to suffering. The Congress had also considered the means to abolish corruption and black money, but did not believe that demonetisation was the solution, he said.
It is a sad commentary that the nation was ruled by those who could not differentiate between black and white money, Mr. Chidambaram said. How could a nation survive if its rulers demonetised all ₹15.44 lakh crore worth good currency to stamp out ₹400 crore worth fake currencies, he wondered.
There were only two units to print currency notes in India and even if they worked round the clock, it would take eight months to get all new notes back in circulation. And that essentially meant the current cash crunch would last till May, he said.
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