Demonetisation worse than natural calamity, it's the biggest scam of 2016: Chidambaram

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday hit out at the government by terming demonetisation as a thoughtless, absurd move which failed to meet its objective.

Terming it as the biggest scam of the year, Chidambaram said, "I cannot get Rs 2,000 note. How crores in Rs 2,000 notes found their way to individuals being raided all over the country? This is the biggest scam of the year and must be investigated.

"Even a natural calamity might not cause so much of trouble," Chidambaram remarked.

Chidambaram hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who claimed that the demonetisation move would benefit the poor and hurt the rich and said that this is just an "illusion". "This is an illusion that it is intended to hurt the rich and benefit the poor. I don't see any rich man getting affected. I went for a wedding the other day, saw that the rich are not affected. It is the poor who are hurt. It has broken the back of poor people, a case of khoda pahad nikli chuhiya," Chidamabaram said while addressing a press conference in Nagpur.

 

Modi has been time and again been accused of shifting the goal post. The move was aimed at ending corruption and counterfeit currency, but as the month progressed, the narrative seemed to have meandered towards the government's other goals – war against terror, digitisation and cashless economy, among other things.

"Goal post is shifting. It is no longer about black money now they have found a new one called cashless economy. This is an absurd, thoughtless move by the government. No one has any good word to say on this," Chidambaram said.

Citing his own example and difficulties he faced while getting Rs 24,000 from bank, Chidambaram said, "What calculations did the government do to say that one can withdraw Rs 24,000 when banks don't have enough cash to dispense. Every bank says "no cash". So how does the government says there is cash? This is why Dr Manmohan Singh said monumental mismanagement."

Chidambaram also mentioned Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue S Gurumurthy who had in an interview said that Rs 2000 notes will be ultimately withdrawn. He backed Gurumurthy and said, "Yesterday, a leading RSS spokesman said that Rs 2000 notes should also be withdrawn, I won't be surprised if they do that."

He claimed that the move has punished poor people and affected 45 crore people. "Because of this, today the farmers are suffering. There is no money to buy seeds, to hire labour or buy fertilisers. Keeping out District Cooperative Central Banks is punishing farmers. There is no money for them to buy supplies," Chidambaram said.

He added that people will not forget for what is being done to them and will certain not forgive the government. Ever since Modi on November 8 declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes are "worthless papers", there have been long queues outside banks and ATMs.