Case of organised loot and legalised plunder, says Manmohan

After five days of confrontation, Rajya Sabha briefly saw resumed debate on demonetisation today during which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the opposition attack, saying the step was "a case of organised loot and legalised plunder" and reflected a "monumental management failure".
He said the decision would lead to dip in the country's GDP growth by at least 2 per cent.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Upper House, the opposition and the ruling side came to an agreement to do away with the Question Hour and resume the debate, which had been left incomplete on November 16.

Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Prime Minister will also participate in the debate.
The opposition had been demanding presence of the Prime Minister for resumption of the debate for the last five days. Modi attended the House during Question Hour as Thursday is the day of questions listed against the PM's name.
Debate was resumed during the Question Hour, from 12 pm to 1 pm, after which the House went into lunch break. When it met again at 2 pm, the Prime Minister was not there, prompting the opposition parties to demand his presence again as they wanted him to listen to all the speakers.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the discussion should be carried forward as the Leader of the House has said that Prime Minister will come.

Opposition members then trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans like "bring back black money, stop making false promises".
Jaitley said his "apprehensions" that the opposition did not want the debate had come true as they were looking for "excuses" to run away from the discussion.
As pandemonium prevailed, the House was adjourned till 3 PM and then for the day as the same situation existed.
Earlier speaking during the debate, Singh said, "These measures convinced me that the way the scheme has been implemented, it's a monumental management failure."

The noted economist said the decision will result in decline of GDP by 2 per cent, which was an "under-estimate and not an over-estimate".
He said he agreed with the objectives of the scheme to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 as spelt out by the Prime Minister but he wished to highlight the problems that the common people and poor have been subjected to by the move.
"It is not my intention to pick holes what this side or other side does. But I sincerely hope that the PM even in this late hour will help find us practical and pragmatic ways to provide relief to the suffering of the people of this country," the former Prime Minister said.

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Peace and normalcy in the Rajya Sabha, during which debate was witnessed from 12 pm to 1 pm, evaporated after it met again at 2 pm after lunch recess.
The Prime Minister, who was present in the House from 12 pm to 1 pm, was not in the House.
Mayawati raised the issue of his absence, saying it was a matter of regret that the Prime Minister had not arrived for the demonetisation debate.
She said that until and unless the PM is present, discussion will not move on and the House will not run.
She was joined by Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, who argued that if the Prime Minister listens to leaders, then the House will run smoothly.

Yechury said the government had given an assurance that the Prime Minister will be in the House all day.
Launching a counter offensive, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Opposition was inventing reasons for running away from the debate.
He said the Opposition is coming up with a new pretext every day to avoid a debate.
The Finance Minister refused to accept the condition that the Prime Minister should sit in the House throughout the debate, saying it was not in the Rule book.
Azad countered Jaitley's assertion reminding that during debate on 2G spectrum scam few years back, BJP, then in opposition, had said that the House will not run until the then Prime Minister was present throughout the discussion.

Amid demands that Modi be present in the House during the course of the demonetisation debate, the Rajya Sabha witnessed uproar with leaders marching towards the well of the House, alleging that the Prime Minister had run away from the debate.
Due to the uproar, the House was adjourned till 3 pm and then for the day.
Earlier, when the lunch break was announced, the Prime Minister reached out to the opposition parties as he walked across in the House and exchanged pleasantries with his predecessor Manmohan Singh and other leaders of Congress as well as JD(U), NCP and DMK.

Modi, with Jaitley and Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in tow, shook hands and was seen chatting with Singh, as also Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma.
Modi also chatted with JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Praful Patel of NCP and DMK's Kanimozhi and some other leaders.
In the morning, the united Opposition stalled the proceedings in the House as they continued to press for the Prime Minister's reply to the debate on demonetisation.
Soon after listed papers were laid and Zero Hour began, the Leader of Opposition said the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would like to speak, a request that Kurien agreed to.

However, Jaitley strongly objected to Singh being given an opportunity to speak outside the debate on the demonetisation issue.
Singh, he said, can participate after the debate resumes.
"If there is no debate, nobody from the Opposition should be allowed to speak," the Leader of the House asserted.
Jaitley said Zero Hour, where members are allowed to raise matters of public importance, cannot be allowed to be used as an opportunity to raise demonetisation issue.