Demonetisation a mammoth tragedy, brace for a tough period: Manmohan Singh

Former Prime Minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh in a scathing article in The Hindu newspaper has termed the current government's demonetisation drive a mammoth tragedy and has reiterated how Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision will hurt daily wage earners, while the black money hoarders will get away with a "mere rap on the knuckles".

Writing in The Hindu, Singh said, "It is my humble opinion that we as a nation should brace ourselves for a tough period over the coming months, needlessly so."

Earlier this month, Singh had slammed the government during a debate in Rajya Sabha when he called the decision to scrap high-value currency notes a ‘monumental mismanagement. He also lashed out at the government for making black money hoarding easier by the introduction of a high-value Rs 2,000 note.

Manmohan Singh said that the notion that ‘all cash is black money and all black money is in cash’ is far from reality as only a fraction of this wealth is in the form of cash. The rest in land, gold, foreign exchange, etc. And these people have easy access to banks and other facilities, he noted.

Singh goes on to explain that millions across the country who earn their wages and hence, save, exclusively in cash has been the worst hit.

"They ( majority of the Indians) save their money in cash which, as it grows, is stored in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. To tarnish these as ‘black money’ and throw the lives of these hundreds of millions of poor people in disarray is a mammoth tragedy," he said.

Singh emphasised that it is the fundamental duty of a democratically elected government in any sovereign nation to protect the rights and livelihood of its citizens. The recent decision by the Prime Minister is a travesty of this fundamental duty, he said. 

While supporting the intention behind the move, i.e., to curb black money and counterfeit currency, he said, "However, the popular saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” serves as a useful reminder and warning in this context."

"It may be tempting and self-fulfilling to believe that one has all the solutions and previous governments were merely lackadaisical in their attempts to curb black money. It is not so. Leaders and governments have to care for their weak and at no point can they abdicate this responsibility. Most policy decisions carry risks of unintended consequences. It is important to deftly balance these risks with the potential benefits of such decisions," Manmohan Singh added.