Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday termed demonetisation as a “disaster” and said he was apprehensive that the worse was yet to come when the country would see a decline in GDP.
Singh said even 1 per cent decline in GDP will lead to a loss of `1.5 lakh crore to the country. He said every challenge thrown by Modi Government should be matched by the Congress with utmost courage and utmost wisdom. “Only Congress can stand up to this challenge,” Singh said at the Congress’s Jan Vedna Sammelan in the Capital.
In his address to a large gathering, Singh termed demonetisation as a “disaster” and said things were going from bad to worse and that the worse was yet to come. He dismissed as “hollow claim” Prime Minister Narendra “Modi’s propaganda” that things have started looking up.
Singh called upon the Congressmen saying it was the “solemn duty” of all Congress men to tell the people the wrongs that have been done by Modi and that a “clarion call” should be given to the countrymen to “awake and rise” up in protest.
Singh further said, the blame of pushing the Indian economy into the abyss lies squarely with the Prime Minister and the BJP Government and that the party condemns the Government for “inflicting immense suffering and hardships” on the people.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram too echoed similar views. He said that the reputation of RBI is at risk today and claimed there was no record of the Cabinet meeting of November 8 when the Government had said to have taken the decision to withdraw `500 and `1,000 notes. He said that never before in India’s history such a farce has been enacted. “The Government and the central bank generally have differences but never before a Government has treated RBI like a department of the Government of India,” Chidambaram said.
“The Congress expresses its serious concern that investment sentiments remain depressed, the investment rate is negative and the gross capital formation has fallen in real terms. The ground realities contradict the hype and claims of high GDP growth,” echoed both the economist in their respective speeches.