Demonetisation a thoughtless action by NDA govt: Sitaram Yechury

Alleging that demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was a "thoughtless" action by the NDA government, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said the move has put people into enormous inconvenience.

Yechury, who took part in ongoing 'padayatra' organised by CPI (M)'s Telangana unit to highlight issues of backward classes in the country, claimed that 75 people have lost their lives due to the hardship owing to demonetisation.

Alleging that alternative currency notes have not come into circulation, he claimed that RBI has said that it would take 175 days for new notes to arrive.

BJP had described former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as 'Maun Mohan Singh', but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not speaking in Parliament now though he spoke outside, Yechury said.

Modi had said in 2014 that 90 per cent of black money lay outside the country and that Rs 15 lakh would be deposited in bank accounts of citizens, he said.

The NDA government had waived loans to the tune of Rs 1.12 lakh crore for corporates, but why the Rs 75,000 crore loans of farmers were not being waived, he questioned.

The new Rs 2,000 note would lead to more corruption and scams, the CPI (M) leader claimed, adding that a special act be brought to check corruption.