BHUBANESWAR: Adopting a contrary position to its 2016 stance, the ruling BJD on Saturday joined the Opposition chorus in criticising the Narendra Modi government for the withdrawal of Rs 2000 currency notes from circulation by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Questioning the motive behind the decision, senior BJD leader and former Finance minister Shashi Bhusan Behera told media persons that the move will once again create uncertainty and volatility in the market and impact the economy.
He said, the Centre in 2016 announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and introduced Rs 2,000 currency notes to check black money. The RBI stopped printing of this currency in 2018 and restricted its circulation in the market. Now it has decided to withdraw Rs 2,000 note from the market without assigning any reason.
“Will the Centre introduce Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes to achieve its objective of putting a further check on black money? If so, the prime minister must first tell the people how much black money was recovered after the 2016 demonetisation,” Behera said. Describing this as another attempt to create uncertainty in the market, the BJD MLA said the RBI decision will adversely impact the women and people in rural areas.
They will face difficulties in exchanging their savings in the shape of Rs 2000 currency notes as it is subject to a limit. People living in unbanked gram panchayats will also have a tough time exchanging notes, Behera said.
The Congress also came down heavily on the Centre for withdrawing the currency stating it will again disrupt economic activities. The working sections, middle-class, small, medium and MSME sectors will be again hit hard the way they did during demonetisation, said spokesperson Rajani Kumar Mohanty.
On the other hand, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda said the general public is not at all worried about the withdrawal as the Rs 2,000 notes have become scarce in recent years. “There are rumours (in my hometown Bhubaneswar) about old-paradigm political parties had once again amassed and stored large hoards of cash in preparation for elections. What do they do now?” he tweeted with an oblique remark on BJD.
He further said, “I predict a sharp surge in spending by these parties right away to get whatever value out of their illicit cash before it becomes worthless paper (for they can only turn in or convert legit cash into other denominations). But this will not be as easy as before, because of the regularisation of the economy in these past few years, with Aadhaar-PAN linkage and many other steps.”