Black money boomed on Manmohan's watch, says FM

New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that parties, which were once part of every scandal in India, are now opposing the government’s demonetisation move, a sharp reaction that came after former PM Manmohan Singh tore into PM Narendra Modi's decision to spike high-value currencies. “They didn’t consider scandals to be a blunder, but are now considering demonetisation a blunder,” the minister said, accusing the Opposition of inventing reasons to run away from a debate in Parliament.  

The minister took a swipe at Mr Singh, saying it is no surprise that he is unhappy as the “maximum black money was generated” under his rule. “We are not surprised that they did not like the anti-black money measures the government has taken...Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as a blunder are now calling the crusade against black money a blunder,” he said.

Rejecting Mr Singh's contention that India’s GDP growth will plunge by 2 percentage points because of the government’s move, he said demonetisation will have positive impact on the economy as money from the shadow economy will find its way into the mainstream.

The government has said the replacement of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes is part of a crackdown on corruption, tax evasion and militant financing, but it has resulted in an unprecedented cash crunch and widespread chaos.  

"The government’s position is very clear from the day one that we are ready for the debate.... The Opposition was finding excuses to avoid discussion but today morning they were taken by surprise when we announced that the Prime Minister will participate in the debate. Now they are inventing reasons to escape the debate," Mr Jaitley said.

Opposition parties led by the Congress have stalled Parliament after the government's shock move to withdraw 86% of the currency in circulation. The move has faced criticism over the slow pace of introducing the new notes, with banks running out of cash and ATMs having to be recalibrated to cope with the new bills.

On an allegation that the some BJP leaders were aware of the move, while Mr Jaitley was not kept in the loop, the finance minister said, "This decision was kept a secret. The people who needed to know, knew (about it)... The allegation is already contradictory that the information was known to some BJP members as though I was not a BJP member."
    
Mr Jaitley also rejected the accusation that RBI governor Urjit Patel did not address the media after the announcement of the scheme, saying the "office people are supposed to perform" and not come out in front of the camera.