PM Modi never liked ₹2,000 notes, says ex-aide; ‘Pathetic damage control’: Congress
PM Modi's former principal secretary Nripendra Mishra said PM Modi was never in favour of ₹2,000 notes.
Nripendr Mishra, who was PM Modi's principal secretary in 2016 during demonetisation, claimed that PM Modi was never in favour of introducing R 2,000 notes as they are not suitable for daily transactions. The revelation comes as the Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced that ₹2,000 notes will be withdrawn from circulation, triggering a massive political slugfest.
Commenting on Nripendra Mishra's remark that PM Modi never liked ₹2,000 notes, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said this is pathetic damage control. "Now he will say he was forced into demonetisation by his advisers," Jairam Ramesh said.
The opposition slammed the decision and termed it as an about-turn by the government which in 2016 banned ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes and introduced the new denomination. The RBI said printing of the ₹2,000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19.
BJP leaders have supported the move and defended the decision saying that it is nothing like demonetisation as common people do not have ₹2,000 notes. They have also cited how in all recent raids mountains of ₹2,000 notes have been discovered since the denomination was used for hoarding money.
Those who have ₹2,000 banknotes will be able to deposit those into their accounts or exchange them for other denominations at any bank branch up to September 30, 2023. State Bank of India issued a communication clarifying that the customers will not be required to submit any ID card of any requisition form to exchange the ₹2,000 notes. They would be allowed to exchange a maximum of 10 currency notes of ₹2,000 at a time.