Demonetisation: Day-long sparring by BJP, Cong

While defending demonetisation, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it has led to "more revenue, better infrastructure and better quality of life" for the people. Leading the critics, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, said the move has done long-lasting harm to the Indian economy and its scars are getting visible with the days.

In a series of tweets, Jaitley said demonetisation had a huge impact in formalising the economy, which led to 13 crore entrepreneurs getting Mudra Loans. "More formalisation, more revenue, more resources for the poor, better Infrastructure, and a better quality of life for our citizens," he said in one of the tweets. .

  "Government has used these resources for better infrastructure creation, social sector and Rural India. How else could we visualise villages being connected by Road, electricity in every home, 92 per cent  coverage for rural sanitation, a successful Awas Yojana, a cooking gas connection," Jaitley's another tweet said.

  The Finance Minister claimed that despite an annual income tax relief of Rs. 97,000 Crore given to the smaller tax payers and a Rs. 80,000 Crore relief given to the GST assesses, tax collections have gone up. "Rates of taxes, both direct and indirect have been reduced, but tax collections have gone up," he said.

  "Demonetisation & implementation of the GST curbed cash transactions in a big way. With a visible increase in the digital transactions, formalisation of the economy has led to increase in the tax payer base from 6.4 million in the pre-GST regime to 12 million."

  "The impact of demonetisation has been felt on collection of personal income tax. Its collections were higher in Financial Year 2018-19 (till 31-10-2018) compared to the previous year by 20.2 per cent.  Even in the corporate tax the collections are 19.5 per cent  higher," Jaitley said in another tweet.

Attacking the Congress for defaming India whenever its standing in the world increases, the BJP alleged that the opposition party, which had did nothing positive during its rule, was creating an atmosphere of gloom and misleading the people.

Posting a series of tweets on the day of the second anniversary of demonetisation, the BJP said the Congress has been in a "state of denial" to overlook the increase in GDP and the country's elevated positions on different index while coming out with protests every anti-corruption move of the Government. It also posed ten questions to the Congress.

"Why is it that whenever India’s standing in the world increases the Congress takes to defaming India and creating an atmosphere of gloom to mislead the people," a tweet of the BJP asked.  

"Is the Congress party living in a state of denial that it cannot see the surge in GDP numbers, the ‘Ease of Doing Business Rankings’ and Global Competitiveness Index? Why are they unhappy that India’s economic prowess is being recognized world over?

Coming down heavily on the Government in a scathing statement, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was an "economic misadventure" roiling the nation for a long time and urged the Government to restore certainty and visibility in its economic policies.

"It is often said that time is a great healer. But unfortunately, in the case of demonetisation, the scars and wounds of demonetisation are only getting more visible with time," Singh said.

"I urge the government to restore certainty and visibility in economic policies. Today is a day to remember how economic misadventures can roil the nation for a long time and understand that economic policymaking should be handled with thought and care," Singh, himself a noted economist, said.

Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's overnight ban on Rs. 500 and 1,000 notes on November 8, 2016, an "ill-fated and ill-thought exercise", Singh said "the havoc it unleashed on the Indian economy and society is now evident to everyone." The cash ban, he said, impacted every single person, regardless of age, gender, religion, occupation or creed.

"Beyond the steep drop in headline GDP growth numbers after demonetisation, the deeper ramifications of notebandi are still unraveling. Small and medium businesses that are the cornerstone of India's economy are yet to recover from the demonetisation shock," the former Prime Minister said.

"This has had a direct impact on employment as the economy continues to struggle to create enough new jobs for our youth. The financial markets are volatile as the liquidity crisis wrought by demonetisation is taking its eventual toll on infrastructure lenders and non-bank financial services firms. We are yet to understand and experience the full impact of the demonetisation exercise. With a depreciating currency and rising global oil prices, macro-economic headwinds are also starting to blow now."

The Congress has said that PM Modi should apologise to the nation for demonetisation.

Other opposition leaders like Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also attacked the BJP-led government over demonetisation with the latter calling the day of its announcement two years ago as a "dark day" and a disaster.