Demonetisation ruined India's economy, SC didn't say it was right: CPIM's Sitaram Yechury

Reacting to the verdict of the Supreme Court's Constitution bench, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on January 2 said that the top court did not say that demonetisation was 'right'.

Yechury said, "The Supreme Court only justified that central government has the right to take the decision of demonetisation but have not said that demonetisation was right."

Supreme Court Upholds Centre's 2016 Demonetisation Decision

On Monday, January 2, the Supreme Court upheld the Centre's decision to demonetise erstwhile Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, and ruled that there was no legal fault in the central government's 2016 decision. 

On November 8, 2016, Centre demonetised about 86% of the Indian currency in order to stop corruption and make a way for the national initiative 'Digital India' by encouraging people to start using digital currency.

While speaking to ANI, Sitaram Yechury said, "The Supreme Court has not said that demonetisation was right and a dissenting judge said that the decision taken by the government was to be taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but here the opposite thing happened and the government sought an opinion from the RBI. If the government had to take a decision on Demonetisation, then it is wrong to bypass the parliament. There was a need to take the opinion of the Parliament and this is the decision of the dissenting judge which is correct."

He also went on to say that due to demonetisation, the economy of India has deteriorated. 

"Crores of people working in the informal sector are standstill, they have not recovered till date. Small factories, especially MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and small-scale industries are closed even today," CPI(M) General Secretary said.

'No target achieved by Centre after bringing demonetisation,' says Sitaram Yechury

Sitaram Yechury iterated that the government didn't achieve its target of demonetisation and alleged that there has been no use of it. 

"The demonetisation took place to bring back the black money and promise to give Rs 15 lakhs to everyone and cease the fake currency. Even the Rs 2,000 note is not working anymore as fake currency has increased a lot. They promised that terrorism will be reduced, see what is happening today in Jammu and Kashmir," Yechury added.

He continued to attack the Centre by saying, "The government has not achieved any promise that they made during demonetisation and the economy has been ruined."

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: PTI