Demonetisation: Telangana minister wants Modi to apologise for colossal failure

The fact that six years after the hasty decision to withdraw all high-value currency notes in circulation was made, the amount of currency with the people has hit an all-time high of ₹30.88 lakh crore. “It is proof of how spectacularly demonetisation has failed”, Rama Rao, also the working president of the TRS, said.

The minister said that while announcing demonetisation, Modi and the ruling BJP had listed out several ‘benefits’ that would accrue from the decision.

Time has proved Modi wrong

Six years later, it is now clear that all those claims have fallen flat. Wild claims were made that demonetisation would reduce cash in circulation, end terrorism, reduce black money, check counterfeit currency and bring in a cashless economy.

“The past six years, sadly, proved PM Narendra Modi’s claims wrong”, he opined.

The minister said that the cash in circulation increased 72 percent to ₹12.91 lakh crore from ₹17.97 lakh crore as on November 4, 2016.

“Our country continues to witness terrorist activities regularly. There is no hope of any large amount of black money coming back into the formal economy, and more alarmingly, there is an increase in counterfeit currency”, he said.

“Hundreds of lives were lost in the serpentine queues at ATMs during the initial weeks of demonetisation”, the minister recalled.

The Prime Minister had claimed that if the desired benefits were not seen within 50 days, people could burn him alive. “After six years, the lives and livelihoods of poor and middle-income Indians have been burned down by demonetisation”, Rama Rao said.

“Instead of bringing in the claimed benefits, demonetisation led to several disastrous effects on the Indian economy”, he added.

Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, said that demonetisation was just one of the major policy failures of the Modi government.

“It is such policy failures which resulted in record unemployment, untamed inflation and an economy in tatters,” he said adding that “all these are proof of how Narendra Modi’s government is one of the worst-performing Union Governments in the history of independent India.”