Chidambaram slams PM Modi, says demonetisation failed to control corruption

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday escalated his attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to demonetise currency, stating that none of the objectives initiated under the drive to tackle black money was visible.

"The first instance of corruption in new Rs 2000 notes, 124 notes, were seized in Kandla Port Trust, Gujarat. Would the Prime Minister say that from November 8 nobody is taking bribe, nobody is asking for bribes? And then he says this will put an end to fake currency, fake currency is already available. They found fake currency in a Kolkata bank, Punjab. None of these objectives were served," Chidambaram said.

He was speaking at the Jan Vedna Sammelan that took place in New Delhi under the auspices of the Congress party.

Calling on the Prime Minister Modi to put his promises to test, Chidambaram asked the Centre to compensate the aggrieved people whose livelihood had got affected due to demonetisation.

"I demand from the Government of India, compensate the farmers for the huge losses because of the crash in prices. I demand to compensate the daily worker, especially the manual worker, who lost his job, lost his work and wage for that day. And the way this decision was taken, it is now absolutely clear; this was the decision of one person," he said.

Chidambaram also slammed the Centre for haphazardly carrying out the cashless economy drive stating that the people are being forced to use alternative methods of payments which is infringing their rights as citizens.

"Most people use cash and most people have the right to use cash. When the Prime Minister says that he will make India a cashless society, he is talking about something which has not happened anywhere in the world. More on that, he is talking about something he has no right to do," he said.

"15 crore people depend upon daily work and if that work is not available to them on that day, they have no income, they cannot feed their families. 30 crore people depend upon daily income, if nobody buys from them that day they have no income," Chidambaram added.

He also said that apart from Finance Minster Arun Jaitley, no one in the world agrees that the demonetisation policy will not hit the GDP of the country.