Demonetisation a foolish decision by Narendra Modi govt, says Chidambaram

Speaking at an India Today event on demonetisation, Chidambaram said that even a natural calamity could not heap so much misery as note ban did. "Families went hungry for days, small businesses were wiped out... over 100 people died standing in queues," the finance minister in the Manmohan Singh government said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address on November 8 last year, declared high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 invalid.

On BJP's big win in the Assembly elections in March this year, Chidambaram said it would be wrong to conclude that people voted only on demonetisation and instead argued that the BJP won only two of the five states conclusively, namely Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

CHIDAMBARAM ON RAHUL, GUJARAT ELECTION

With the Gujarat Assembly election round the corner, Chidambaram said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be a major poll issue but the election "will not be referendum" on the new tax regime. 

He said people in Gujarat will vote on several issues such as atrocities on Dalits, the unmet demands of Patidars, farmer distress and incompetence of the chief ministers besides the GST whose faulty implementation has created "utter chaos".  

Chidambaram said that he would be the last man to predict which party would win in Gujarat. Congress rallies are attracting large crowds and there is a lot of unhappiness among different sections which is giving the Congress the confidence ahead of the crucial election, he said.  

On Rahul Gandhi's new avatar, Chidambaram said he feels that the Congress vice-president's speeches and tweets have acquired a new edge.

Chidambaram said that nationally there is a "great deal of unrest and unhappiness" and he can see the change in social media and through his interactions with people. "BJP MPs have told me there is a mood change... but they don't believe they will lose the elections," he said.

“The moral of the story is that just because government got absolute majority, it does not mean it will always do the right thing,” the Rajya Sabha MP said. Describing note-ban as a decision driven by total ignorance, he said it was a foolish move, but this government does not have the honesty to admit it made a mistake.

“I think the whole scheme was to help some people who had black money to convert it into white money. It is one of the biggest scams,” he said adding “I am sure someday, somebody will enquire into it”. He said none of the objectives of demonetisation—counterfeit notes, stopping terror funding and black money, as claimed by government have been served.

“Therefore, they shifted the goal posts. No longer they speak about terrorism and fake currency and then they said it was to being in a cashless economy which was an afterthought,” he said. Blaming the government for being completely insensitive to what the people are going through he said “the result is jobless growth. There is some growth but there are no jobs being created”.

Admitting that GST is a good tax and a good idea, he said unfortunately this government has given GST a bad name, which is why its appropriate to call it “Gabbar Singh Tax” and not goods and services tax, Chidambaram said. From the start, be its design, concept, and rate structure, the GST in the present form is wrong, Chidamabaram said, adding “this government has cheated the people by bringing the GST bills as a money bill” because they don’t have majority in the Rajya Sabha.