New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is taking the battle to the opposition on the issue of demonetisation of high value currencies.
“BJP will observe ‘anti-black money day’ on 8 November 2017 to mark the completion of one year of demonetisation,” finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters on Wednesday. In the process not only has the BJP throw a political challenge to the opposition, but it has also revived the debate over corruption in public office—coincidentally just ahead of two key elections to the state assemblies of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
This is in contrast to the plan by 18 opposition parties led by the Congress to remember the demonetisation anniversary as a “black day”. They have argued that not only had demonetisation failed to fix the problem of black money, but also caused considerable hardship and disruption especially to the poor who operate in the informal economy driven by cash transactions.
Senior leaders of BJP revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several cabinet ministers will travel across the country to spread the message of anti-corruption and anti-black money.
“BJP and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has a clear policy to act against black money in the country. After the government was formed in 2014, a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to act against black money. Government has also made agreements with different countries to get real time information,” Jaitley said. The finance minister added that the government had managed to make headway with the three objectives of demonetisation: reducing cash transactions, digitising commercial transactions and expansion of the tax base.
The Congress however dismissed these claims.
“What has been said about the economy is not true...It is wrong to say that the country’s economic fundamentals are strong. The finance minister claiming that India’s economy is the world’s fastest growing is incorrect and factually wrong. The government has no plan to put the economy back on track,” senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said.
Political analyst feel that people of the country had supported the union government’s intent to act against black money and the recent electoral success in Uttar Pradesh was an example of the support for the decision.
“Demonetisation was hugely applauded by the people. It was appreciated because of the intent of the government to end black money and corruption. But the government is on the defensive because of the slow down in the economy and the opposition parties see this as an opening to target the government,” said A.K. Verma, a Kanpur-based political analyst and political science professor at the city’s Christ Church College.
A senior BJP leader, on the condition of anonymity, pointed out that the party had claimed the mantle of anti-corruption.
“There is a big difference between the BJP and the opposition party on acting against black money. BJP is the only party which has taken a stand against black money. While BJP is celebrating 8 November as anti-black money day, opposition parties will observe it as a black day. The message to people is clear that BJP wants to end black money but opposition parties are only trying to claim political mileage,” he said.
PTI contributed to the story.