Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday defended demonetisation, saying it was a "highly ethical" move and not merely a political one.
His statement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi engaged in a bitter war of words during their respective election rallies over the decision suddenly announced in November 2016 to junk a bulk of the currency in circulation.
"It was a highly ethical move," Jaitley told reporters here in response to a query over demonetisation. "It was not merely a political move."
Further backing the note-ban move, he said, "It was no secret that many in India were not tax-compliant, compelling them to put their undeclared money into the banks had an ethical rationale to it."
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