Demonetization was a thoughtless, rash move: P. Chidambaram

Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has termed the BJP-let Centre’s last year’s demonetization move as a ‘thoughtless and rash’ move which had ruined the country’s economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the entire nation by surprise by announcing on the night of 08th November last year that the existing Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes would become invalid with immediate effect. People were put to untold miseries in exchanging their old notes for new currencies and also in withdrawing their own hard-earned money from Banks/ATMs where they stood in long, never-ending queues.

Chidambaram has come down hard on the BJP on the eve of the first anniversary of the demonetization drive which the Centre observed as ‘anti-black money day’ last Wednesday. Tweeting his impressions on his Twitter account, Chidambaram described the demonetization drive as ‘thoughtless and rash’ move which turned out to be a ‘colossal mistake’ as it imposed huge cost and dented the economic growth.

“Millions had suffered due to this; we are now told that the value of demonetized currency notes returned to RBI was a mere Rs.41 crore out of the Rs.15,28,000 crores. Thus, it is apparent that demonetization wasn’t the answer for unearthing fake currency notes. No Govt. in a democracy has inflicted so many unbearable hardships and misery on the people,” he said.