Note ban 'most terrible' decision of Modi Govt: Chidambaram

He also asked why the govt is 'shying' away from giving a GDP number even while giving an estimate

Congress leader P Chidambaram termed note ban as the "most terrible" decision, alleging that graft and black money have continued to thrive and large sections adversely affected.

The former finance minister also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the words he chose to attack his predecessor Manmohan Singh, saying he should remember that the Chair he sat on was used by PanditJawaharlal Nehru and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Initiating the discussion on the 2017-18 General Budget in theRajya Sabha, he accused the government of "fumbling, bumbling, scrambling" and inventing a new narrative every day.

Observing that he saw his first Rs 2,000 note four days after it came into circulation, he said there were many who were caught with new notes worth crores, stashed away.

"This is the biggest scam of 2016... Where did they get these notes from? Did these go directly from the RBI press to them," Chidambaram asked.

"This means that corruption and black money have thrived after demonetisation... The NSSO says 15 crore people in this country are daily wage earners. 25.5 crore workers are daily income earners. 40 crore people were completely devastated by demonetisation for eight weeks. These 40 crore people may forgive you, but they won't forget the experience," he said.

Questioning the remonetisation process, he asked "Why should you demonetise and then remonetise" and said that the government has replenished Rs9 lakh crore worth of new currency notes as against Rs 17 lakh crore old notes that went out of circulation.

Chidambaram said the government had inherited an economy that, in the last two years of the United Progressive Alliance rule, had grown by 6.1and 6.9 per cent respectively.

"The average for the 10-year period is 7.5 per cent. India is among the fastest growing large economies in the world. But through 2016-17, you made a series of mistakes, capped by the most terrible mistake", he said pointing at demonetisation.

He also asked why the government is 'shying' away from giving a GDP number even while giving an estimate.

Terming the budget as a "great disappointment", he estimated that2016-17 will see a hit on GDP by 1-1.5 per cent and "if very unlucky", then even 2 per cent and warned that this trend will spill over into 2017-18 also.

"In an economy that has admittedly slowed down, your Budget contracts government expenditure," Chidambaram said, adding that even in the budget, capital expenditure has been curtailed.

"You shifted money from defence research and added it to defence capital," he said, pointing to the allocation of Rs 86,484 crore and adding that if the money for research was subtracted, then the actual defence outlay will be much less.

The Congress leader noted that the revised estimate came to over Rs 71,000 which meant that "either you are unable to spend the money, or you don't have the money to spend".

Allocation as a percentage of the GDP has only come down, Chidambaram said as he read out allocation figures of the last three budgets including that of 2016-17.

"To give a boost to the economy, we have to spend more. This isEconomics 101," he said, adding that the economy will suffer because of contracted expenditure.

He then spoke about the bull-taming sport of Jallikattu and said the protest over it in Tamil Nadu was "only a symbol" under which people converged. "The most vocal angst is about jobs. There are simply no jobs being created and jobs have been taken away," he said, adding "this is the angst that brought young people to the Marina (beach in Chennai)."

Quoting figures, the Congress leader said 75 per cent of all small and medium industries are closed and then went ahead to state that these figures were "as per your (affiliate) trade union, the Bharatiya MazdoorSangh."

"Everybody has different concerns. Some are concerned about intolerance - ban jeans, ban books, ban authors, ban beef... We have to find jobs for both the uneducated and the educated," Chidambaram said.

Addressing the ruling BJP members, he asked them to tell him one strategy in the Budget which will create jobs. "On the contrary, you have destroyed jobs. This is a powder keg.All it requires is a spark. I would like to caution the government," he said.

Speaking about farmers, he said the Minimum Support Price gives an indication that agriculture is a viable vocation and farmers should continue as the government was there to take care of them.

"But there is nothing in the Budget speech about MSP," he said adding that a wrong message was being sent to farmers.

"Why are you not giving meaningful increases that take note of inflation in your MSP?... I am saying I need money to educate my child. I need money to start a small business for my son. I need money to conduct the marriage of my daughter. And you are giving me money to conduct my funeral. Is this the way to treat farmers of this country?" he said referring to Fasal Bima Yojana.