AAP equates demonetisation with 9/11, Kejriwal terms it self-inflicted wound on economy

The AAP Thursday termed demonetisation a "tragedy" and likened it to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US, as party chief Arvind Kejriwal questioned the rationale behind suddenly banning a bulk of the currency and claimed it was a "self inflicted deep wound" on the Indian economy.

On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination bank notes would cease to exist as legal tenders with immediate effect.

The withdrawal of the notes led to a liquidity crunch and people stood in serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs to exchange old notes.

The opposition parties have criticised the exercise as "ill-advised" and "disastrous" for the country, but the government has said demonetisation helped increase the tax base and allowed greater formalisation of the economy.

"Though the list of financial scams of Modi govt is endless, demonetisation was a self inflicted deep wound on Indian economy which even two years later remains a mystery why the country was pushed into such a disaster ?," Kejriwal said on Twitter.

AAP's national spokesperson Raghav Chadha said, "Just as 9/11 is remembered as a tragic and immensely sad day in the history of United States, we Indians recall 8/11 as the tragedy that devastated our economy."