The RBI made a surprise announcement on Friday but gave the public time until September 30 to either deposit the 2,000 rupee note into the account or exchange it at the bank
Published Date – Sat, 5/20/23 at 11:50pm
New Delhi: Opposition leaders on Saturday slammed the government over the withdrawal of the 2,000 rupee note from circulation, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee describing it as a “Tughlaqi demonetization drama”, with Congress doubting whether it was the second time. “notebandi” exercise.
The BJP denied that this was any form of demonetisation, instead reminding Congress that even under Manmohan Singh’s rule, old banknotes were out of circulation.
In a surprise announcement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday, but until September 30, the Rs 2,000 notes can be deposited into accounts or exchanged at banks. It said it had asked banks to stop issuing 2,000 rupee notes immediately.
Banerjee said the move would “again be a heavy blow to ordinary people”. She said in a tweet: “Another whimsical Tughlaqi demonetization drama of the Rs 2,000 note will again hit ordinary people hard and subject them to mass harassment. These high-handed measures are designed to mask the regime’s fundamentally anti-people and cronyism The nature of capitalism.” In the reckoning, the masses of the people will not forget this misfortune of the oligarchy and dictatorship. “
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge called for an impartial investigation into the entire incident. In a Hindi tweet, he said: “The economy has been deeply hurt by the first demonetization. As a result, the entire unorganized sector has been destroyed, MSMEs have closed and tens of millions of jobs have been lost. “Now, the ‘second demonetization’ of the 2000 note…is it covering up a bad decision? Only an impartial investigation can uncover the truth of the matter. “
Asked about the move at a news conference in Patna, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “The RBI has issued a detailed message explaining these clearly. How the use of high denomination notes has decreased. We would like to remind our friends in Congress that even during the reign of Manmohan Singh, old notes were once out of circulation. Therefore, they (Congress) cannot call it notebandi.”
He added, “If these notes are used for money laundering, then scrapping these notes will hit such networks.”
On the issue, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hit back at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after he mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the RBI decision.
Kejriwal tweeted that initially it was said that the 2,000 rupee notes would end corruption, now it is said that withdrawing them would end corruption. “That’s why I say we should have an educated prime minister,” he said.
To this, Pradhan responded that the Rs 2,000 note remains legal tender, adding that “the educated chief minister is out again peddling lies”.
While congratulating Siddaramaiah on becoming Karnataka Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu BJP Chairman K Annamalai jeered at him, asking: “Where does the Congress government have the funds to implement its five poll guarantees, which require about Rs 65,000 crore? Rs 2,000 notes can no longer be bundled in bags as they will be withdrawn in September this year.”
Kapil Sibal, a member of the independent Rajya Sabha, also attacked the government’s decision, recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 demonetization remarks that the size of cash in circulation was directly linked to the level of corruption.
He said, “2000 notes were scrapped. PM to Nation: 8th November 2016, “The amount of cash in circulation is directly related to the level of corruption”. Cash in circulation: 2016 (Rs.177 trillion); crore). So: Corruption has increased! How do you say PM ji?”
Mahua Moitra, MP for Trinamool, said: “No civilized country will let its people worry about cash turning into toilet paper all the time. Why should we stress that our wallets evaporate every few years?” “BJP and Modiji’s distraction does not It didn’t help. You lost Karnataka. You lost more states. You couldn’t save Adani either,” she said.
In response to the developments, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked Modi five questions.
“Five questions to top economist PM Modi: @PMOIndia. 1. Why was the 2000 note introduced in the first place? 2. Can the 500 note be withdrawn soon? 370 million Indians don’t have smartphones, they How to make digital payment?” 4. What was the role of the Better Than Cash Alliance owned by Bill Gates in getting you to Demo 1.0 and 2.0? 5. Has NPCI been hacked by China? If so, what happens to payments when wars happen,” he asked.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin claimed the move was a ploy to cover up the BJP’s election defeat. Stalin wrote on his twitter account: “500 doubts, 1000 mysteries, 2000 mistakes! A single technique to cover up the fiasco of Karnataka election #2000Note #Demonetisation.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray, Bharat Rashtra Samithi spokesman Sravan Dasoju also questioned the move.
Congress secretary general KC Venugopal slammed the decision, saying: “I am reminded of the prescience of our former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh who called demonetization an ‘organized looting and legalized looting’ conduct, the implementation of which was a ‘colossal failure of management’”
Pavan Hera, head of Congress’s media and propaganda department, lashed out at Modi, saying that people who cannot print their own notes for seven years are asking what the country has done in 70 years.
Congressman Manish Tewari said the logic behind RBI’s withdrawal of the Rs 2,000 note was contrary to the Finance Ministry’s answer to his parliamentary question on November 18, 2019.
The Rs 2,000 denomination note was introduced in November 2016 primarily to quickly meet the monetary needs of the economy after the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation at the time was withdrawn.
The RBI said it also observed that the Rs 2,000 note was not commonly used for transactions. In addition, stocks of banknotes in other denominations continue to be sufficient to meet the monetary demand of the public.
“In view of the above, and in line with RBI’s ‘Clean Notes Policy’, it has been decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 note from circulation,” it said.
