The move by the government to demonetise high denomination currency is "the worst attack on the poor in the country," Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Tuesday.
Mr. Chidambaram described it as a "completely thoughtless and meaningless move by the government that won't result in anything."
'If the objective was to remove black money, counterfeiting, terror funding, there are ways to go about it," he said.
"If you wanted to withdraw high value notes, you could have done it over a year and said Rs. 100 notes will be the highest value from now."
He added that "People not protesting violently doesn't mean that they condone this. They won't forget, and certainly won't forgive the Centre for this. It's an illusion that this will help the poor. They are the ones hurting more."
