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AMN / NEW DELHI

On the second anniversary of the noteban the opposition today attacked the Narendra Modi government for unleashing “destruction” on every citizen of India with its 2016 demonetisation move that only helped the Prime Minister’s cronies, however the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said demonetization was a key step in a chain of important decisions taken by the government to formalize the economy..

On the second anniversary of the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, the Congress called it a “black day” for the democracy and national economy, while the CPI-M termed it the “biggest scam in the history”.

“The cost and destruction by demonetisation were endured by every citizen of this country other than few crony capitalist friends of PM Modi. Demonetisation was a black day for our democracy and our economy,” the Congress tweeted.

Senior Congress leader and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged the Centre to restore certainty and visibility in its economic policies.

The former Finance Minister in a statement asked the current NDA regime not to indulge in any further unorthodox, short-term economic measures that could cause any more uncertainty in the economy and financial markets.

“Today marks the second anniversary of the ill-fated and ill-thought demonetisation… The havoc that it unleashed on the Indian economy and society is now evident to everyone.

“Notebandi (demonetisation) impacted every single person, regardless of age, gender, religion, occupation or creed,” Singh said in a statement. –

He said financial inclusion was another important step to ensure that even weaker sections became part of the formal economy.

In a Facebook post today on the completion of the two years of demonetization, Mr Jaitley said the government first targeted the black money outside India and Asset holders were asked to bring the money back on payment of penal tax.

Stating that India was a cash-dominated economy, the Minister said demonetizations compelled holders of cash to deposit the same in the banks. He said the enormity of cash deposited and identified with the owner, resulted in 17 lakh 42 thousand suspected account holders from whom the response has been received online through non-invasive method. He said, a lot of money was diverted to the Mutual Funds for further investments, which became a part of the formal system.