Soon after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh slammed the Government’s demonetisation policy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit back at him, saying it was no surprise that Singh was unhappy as “maximum black money was generated” under his rule.
“Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime a blunder are now finding the crusade against black money a blunder,” he said.
Rebutting Singh’s contention that GDP growth will plunge by 2 per cent due to disruption of the money supply chain, Jaitley said, “Demonetization will have a positive impact on the economy over the medium to long term as the money from the shadow economy will find its way into the mainstream.”
“The Government’s position is very clear from day one that we are ready for a debate.... The Opposition was finding excuses to avoid discussion, but today morning they were taken by surprise when we announced that the
Prime Minister will participate in the debate. Now they are inventing and manufacturing reasons to escape the debate,” Jaitley told reporters here.
lashing out at the previous UPA Government, Jaitley alleged that “the maximum black money was generated during 2004-14, and the period was engulfed in various scams like 2G and coal scam”.
The Minister said the measure will increase lending capacity of banks which could extend the money to farmers, the social sector and also the industry.
Jaitley said the previous Government had “policy paralysis” and thus, could not take “tough decisions” unlike the Modi dispensation.
On the allegation that the some BJP leaders were aware of the move, while Jaitley was not kept in the loop, the Finance Minister said, “This decision was kept a secret. The people who needed to know, knew (about it)... The allegation is already contradictory that the information was known to some BJP members as though I was not a BJP member.”