Kochi: It was nothing but greed that led to demonetisation announced by the Narendra Modi government in November 2016, former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha said here on Sunday.
Speaking at 'Hot Seat', an open forum organised by the All India Professionals' Congress at Bolgatty Palace, Sinha, a known critic of PM Modi, said the government was under the impression that Rs 3-4 lakh crore, which was estimated to be the equivalent of black money in circulation would return to the banking sector once high denomination notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 were demonetised. The government thought that it could use that money for big projects. He said once the government realised that the aims mentioned by the prime minister in his November 8 speech were not being achieved, it started shifting goal posts. “Demonetisation was a monumental failure and the most ill-conceived step any government would have made,” Sinha, who quit BJP earlier this year, said.
On the distress in agriculture sector, Sinha said the BJP made a lot of tall promises to farmers including doubling their income during the run-up to the 2014 general elections, but nothing has materialised. “Now they have shifted the target to 2022,” he said. “As far as India's agriculture sector is concerned, the present government's performance was very poor,” he said.
In reply to a question as to how the sectors affected by demonetisation would overcome the crises, Sinha said a new government will come to power in a few months. He was referring to the general elections due in 2019.
Detailing the crises in job sector Sinha said jobs have not been created in the country in the numbers required. He slammed the government for first mocking the previous UPA government saying its Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was a failure and now increasing the allocation for it.
Sinha attacked the government for the failure to tackle rising fuel prices and crises in banking sector.
“Economy is today in such a crisis but the government is busy with event management and ensuring that the media don't report the real issues,” he said, adding that the condition of media in the country was worse than that during the Emergency.
“All institutions and conventions in the country are under attack by the present government. The decision to describe Aadhaar bill as a money bill was murder of democracy,” he said.
On the row over the government's attempts to take away the powers of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Sinha said what is happening to the RBI is a great worry. “The government wants to control RBI like other institutions. RBI's autonomy will become a thing of the past. The very existence of RBI as we know it is under threat,” he said.
In reply to a query, Sinha said no comparison was possible between former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Modi. Sinha, who has been a cabinet colleague of Vajpayee, said there were occasions when Vajpayee instructed the ministers not to toe the RSS line.
The session, attended by a select audience, was moderated by AIPC state president Mathew Kuzhalnadan. CPI(M) leader and former MP P Rajeev, K S Sabarinathan, MLA, and MES chairman Fazal Gafoor participated in the discussion. The meet, notable for its unconventional style, was attended by many online. Netizens who watched the programme live had the opportunity to raise their questions to Sinha.
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