Demonetisation helped curb black money: Narendra Modi

On the fourth anniversary of demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the move helped in reducing black money, increase tax compliance and formalisation of the economy. In a video, released as part of this campaign, Mr. Gandhi held demonetisation responsible for Bangladesh doing better than India in terms of economic growth and alleged that the move “destroyed” India’s economy and only helped Mr. Modi’s “crony capitalist friends”. At a separate press conference, Congress general secretary Ajay Maken accused the government of changing its narrative to explain the rationale of demonetisation — from countering black money and corruption, to stemming “counterfeit,” to making India a “digital or cashless” economy, to bringing back idle savings into banks. Asserting that 99.3% of the demonetised currency came back to the system, Mr. Maken alleged, “As far as corruption is concerned, we have seen a surge in the use of immense money power in poaching MLAs and destabilising non-BJP led State governments.” Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, as part of the campaign, said,“The first lesson every ruler and every government must learn is that — even if you do not do good to the people, do not do harm.