KOLKATA: On the fifth anniversary of demonetisation on Monday, the Trinamool Congress termed the note ban as one of the most disastrous decisions in independent India and accused the BJP-led government of destroying the country's economy.
The Narendra Modi government had on this day in 2016 announced the decision to ban currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations.
"The demonetisation decision is one of the most disastrous decisions of independent India. It has destroyed our economy, especially the medium and small industry sector. It has broken the backbone of our economy. The downslide of our economy started with this decision of demonetisation," senior TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy said.
The TMC leader also hit out at the BJP government over the various objectives cited by it for the note ban, including curbing black money flow.
"Did the demonetisation decision achieve any of its targets such as putting a check on black money ot terrorism? The answer is no. Rather, it increased the rate of unemployment in the country and brought down the country's gross domestic product," he said.
TMC's Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O'Brien tweeted a screenshot of five tweets by West Bengal Chief Minister and party supremo on the night of November 8, 2016, and said, "Only Mamata Banerjee got it spot on".
Banerjee had opposed the note ban and had termed it as a big scam.
BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said the TMC leadership is "ill-informed" about the benefits of demonetisation.
"They are not at all informed about the effects of demonetisation and have been spreading canards about it. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. They should check the facts before making comments," he said.