Organised loot, legalised plunder: Former PM Manmohan Singh on demonetisation

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of demonetisation in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Singh said that in addition to hurting the economy, the move might hurt the country’s GDP by 2%.

He also said that the frequent changes in the directives by the Finance Ministry has brought disrepute to the PM’s office and has also undermined the stature of Reserve Bank of India.

Following are the highlights of his speech:

• Ordinary people have suffered as a result of this imposition by the PM.
• The current implementation (later termed as monumental mismanagement) will hurt agricultural growth and all informal sectors.
• For those who are poor and deprived, even 50 days can have disastrous effect (referring to PM’s self-proposed deadline).
• What has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the currency and banking system.
• The national income can decline by about 2 percentage points.
• It is not good that every day, the banking system comes up with some modifications. That reflects very poorly on the PMO, Finance Ministry and the RBI.
• I am very sorry that the RBI has been exposed to this kind of criticism which is fully justified.
• This is a monumental mismanagement. This is an organised loot, legalised plunder.
• I want to ask the Prime Minister if he can name any country where people have deposited their money but are not able to withdraw.