Subramanian should have resigned over demonetisation: Rahul Gandhi

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on demonetisation, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has distanced himself from the decision to junk high-value currency notes, but he should have resigned on the issue and those guilty of the "huge scam" will be punished.

In a tweet, Gandhi said demonetisation, like the Rafale deal, was "a crime against India" and noted that former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had distanced himself from the deal to purchase fighter jets to "save his skin."

"Demo (demonetisation) like Rafale was a crime against India and a huge scam. Parrikar distanced himself from Rafale to save his skin. Subramanian is doing the same with Demo. I wonder why he didn't resign when he disagreed so much? Don't worry India, the guilty will be investigated and punished," Gandhi said.

Subramanian kept a studied silence on demonetisation till he was the Chief Economic Adviser to the Union Finance Ministry, but six months after quitting the job he has described the note ban as a "massive, draconian, monetary shock" that accelerated economic slide to 6.8 per cent in the seven quarters after the decision against the 8 per cent recorded prior to it.

He has said that he does not have a strongly-backed empirical view apart from the fact that the welfare costs, especially on the informal sector, were substantial.

Subramanian has written his views in his upcoming book "Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy."

--IANS

ps/shs/bg