Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Criticises Government Over Demonitisation Move

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, criticized the NDA government's decision to demonetize high-value currency notes in November 2016. He claimed that the action did not achieve the desired goals. He claimed that the amount of cash in circulation and fake currency has increased.

During Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, he claimed that the amount of money in circulation had increased. He claimed that it increased from 18 lakh crore in 2016 to 31 lakh crore now. Fake currency and deposits in Swiss banks since demonetization have also increased he continued. He said that this shows that the initiative's objectives were not met. “The economy is in bad shape because of demonetization. Demonetisation set out to bring back black money and stop fake currency and terrorism. But none of the objectives of demonetization has come to fruition,” Mr. Chowdhury said. Nishikant Dubey, a member of the BJP, responded to his charges. He claimed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had made a "major stride" toward eradicating corruption. He stated that financing of terrorism had been "rampant" under Congress's rule. Mr. Dubey stated demonetization was to eliminate the threats of terrorism, black money, and counterfeit cash. Additionally, he said that Congress was supporting the "tukde tukde gang" and corrupt individuals. The government announced the demonetization of the 1,000 and 500 dollar bills in November 2016. It released new 2,000 and 500 notes then. The government has argued that the move helped drain out black money. It claims the move enabled a transformation to digital transactions. While critics have said that it had a negative impact on the economy and wasn't necessary.