Describing the BJP-led government’s demonetisation exercise as a reckless step, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said scrapping higher value currency notes was organised loot and legalised plunder.
Speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of the decision to scrap bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination, the former prime minister said none of its objectives were achieved.
Singh was speaking in Ahmedabad at an interactive session on the current state of the economy with businesspersons and traders in poll-bound Gujarat . The state goes to polls on December 9 and 14 .
“Demonetisation was organised loot and legalised plunder,” he said .
“Nowhere in the world has any nation taken such a drastic step that swept off 86 per cent of the currency. It has broken the back of our small businesses,” he added.
Hitting out at the government over the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax, Singh said compliance requirements under GST had become a nightmare for small businesses.
He also criticised the Centre’s ambitious Ahmedabad- Mumbai bullet train project and dubbed it an exercise in vanity.
Singh’s visit comes a day before Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is likely to tour Surat on the anniversary of the government’s announcement of the demonetisation exercise.
{{/usCountry}}Singh’s visit comes a day before Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is likely to tour Surat on the anniversary of the government’s announcement of the demonetisation exercise.
{{/usCountry}}Opposition parties are observing ‘black day’ tomorrow.