Reiterating that the November 8 demonetisation of high-value Indian currency was “an immature decision”, JD-U leader Sharad Yadav on Monday said the recent reports by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have vindicated his earlier denunciation of the note ban decision.
“From the report released by RBI, my statements on this (demonetisation) have been vindicated which I made from time to time since then. Demonetisation has achieved none of the objectives as the government targeted,” Yadav told media persons here.
The Janata Dal-United leader accused the government of cheating people in the name of demonetisation and taking the countrymen for granted.
He said that because of the government’s decision to scrap old notes, farmers’ incomes were reduced by 50-60 per cent as they had to sell their produce at “throw-away prices”.
“(T)he decision of demonetisation of the government was immature, hurried and without proper ground work which left the people of the country to bear pain, humiliation and was ridiculous for the government of such a large democracy of the world,” said the Rajya Sabha member.
Calling the day of November 8, 2016, as a “black day” (the day Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes were scrapped), Yadav said the economy is yet to recover from the effects of the note ban.
“The government did not realise that mostly our labour was working in the unorganised sector and what would happen to them. Almost three crore daily-wagers were affected with this single action of the government,” he said.