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Mamata Banerjee slams Centre after RBI scrapped ₹2,000 notes; ‘Billion dollar dhokha’
The chief minister recalled the ‘sufferings’ people endured due to demonetisation in 2016 that ‘cannot be forgotten’.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday criticised the Centre over the decision to withdraw ₹2,000 currency notes from circulation and termed it as a ‘billion dollar dhokha (fraud)’. Her remark came hours after the Resereve Bank of India (RBI) announced rolling back of ₹2,000 denomination currency notes from circulation.
Also read: Why RBI decided to withdraw ₹2000 notes within 7 years
CM Banerjee recalled the ‘sufferings’ people endured due to demonetisation in 2016 that cannot be forgotten.
"So it wasn’t ₹2,000 dhamaka but a billion dollar dhoka (fraud) to a billion Indians. Wake up my dear brothers and sisters. The suffering we have endured due to demonetisation can’t be forgotten and those who inflicted that suffering shouldn’t be forgiven," she said in a tweet.
On Friday, the RBI directed all banks in its notification to stop issuing ₹2,000 notes with immediate effect as per the ‘clear note policy’. However, it said citizens can continue to be able to deposit the currency notes at any bank branch till September 30, 2023.
The ₹2,000 denomination banknotes were introduced after the Narendra Modi-led central government demonetised ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes in November 2016. As per RBI, the objective of introducing ₹2,000 notes was met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities.
Notably, the central bank had stopped printing these currency notes in 2018-2019. The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from ₹6.73 lakh crore at its peak as on March 31, 2018 (37.3% of Notes in Circulation) to ₹3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8% of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023.
Also read: How to exchange your ₹2,000 notes after RBI scraps circulation: All FAQs answered
Other political parties including Congress and CPI(M) along with Trinamool Congress leaders also criticised the move, claiming that the introduction of ₹2,000 note helped some people to stash black money.
“It was forced on the people and left the economy in the doldrums. Several people had to pay with their lives for the eccentricity of the Narendra Modi government,” Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
