Mumbai: Delhi: Former union finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has again hit out at Narendra Modi-led government over its demonetisation move.
Mincing no words while hitting out at the Modi regime, the Congress veteran said, “Demonetisation is the biggest man-made disaster that hit India, worse than the 2004 Tsunami.”
While targetting PM Narendra Modi over demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation and Bullet train project, Chidambaram noted that Modi government's decision of banning the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes in November 2016 was a mistake.
"If my prime minister had asked me to do demonetisation, I would have advised him 'please don't', and if he had insisted, then I would have resigned," he told reporters.
"Demonetisation was a bad idea, full stop. GST is a good idea, but it has been hastily implemented. It should have been implemented with due care and attention,” the Congress veteran asserted.
Chidambaram also grabbed the opportunity to hit out at the Election Commission for not declaring the dates for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections simultaneously.
On November 8, 2016, the Centre had decided to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
On November 8, 2017 the BJP will organise programmes highlighting all the steps the government has taken against black money.
BJP president Amit Shah recently said that note ban and other initiatives undertaken by the Centre reflected his party's resolve to build a corruption-free India.
"Demonetisation, black money SIT and other initiatives reflect our commitment towards building a nation free from corruption," he tweeted.
The Congress-led 18 Opposition parties have announced that they will observe November 8 as Black Day to protest against the "ill-conceived and hasty" decision of the government to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes a year ago.
The IMF has lowered India's growth projection to 6.7 percent in 2017, 0.5 percentage points less than its previous two forecasts in April and July, attributing it to demonetisation and introduction of the GST.
