Demonetisation: What happened after the announcement of the central government?
After the Supreme Court upheld the decision of demonetisation, it is important to know what kind of situation developed in the country after this decision.
• On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on TV at 8 in the evening and announced that 500 and 1000 rupee notes would be out of circulation from 12 midnight.
• After the Prime Minister’s announcement, the Left parties called for a 12-hour bandh in the country’s capital. Aam Aadmi Party and Congress also took out separate rallies and marches against the decision of demonetisation.
• After this announcement, there was a stampede in the country and a large number of people reached outside the ATM. But within a few hours the ATM ran out of cash and people had to face problems.
• For days to come, people stood in long queues outside banks to withdraw their money. He had to face all kinds of difficulties to get his notes exchanged. He had to be beaten by the police and also humiliated by the bank employees.
• According to the reports published in newspapers during that time, around 100 people died in queues during demonetisation. However, the central government had said in Parliament that only 4 people had died due to standing in queues during demonetisation.
• This decision of the Modi government was called a bold step by the BJP and said that after this decision, the business of terror funding and fake notes would collapse and black money would also be curbed. But former Congress President Rahul Gandhi kept raising questions about the demonetisation decision and called it a disastrous step for the country’s economy.
• After this decision, there were reports that the economy faltered and lakhs of people lost their jobs.
Asked for 50 days’ time
In the initial days of demonetisation, when this decision was being widely criticized in the country and the world and raising questions by experts, it was said to be a bad decision for the country’s economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during a program in Goa that he To curb corruption, the step of demonetisation has been taken. He had sought 50 days’ time from the people.
Modi gave this speech on November 13, 2016, five days after demonetisation was implemented. He had said, “I have asked the country for only 50 days. Give me time till 30th December. After that, if I find any mistake, if any shortcoming remains, if my intentions turn out to be wrong, then I am ready to face the punishment which the country will put me at the crossroad.
• Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in Parliament on November 7, 2017, a year after demonetisation, that ‘demonetisation is an ‘organised loot and legalized plunder’.
• The central government had said in the year 2020 that the digital economy has gained momentum after demonetisation. But the Congress and other opposition parties had rubbished his claim.
• In October 2022, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge had said that in the year 2022, the cash with the public is 72 percent more than in the year 2016.
• However, on Monday, the Supreme Court upheld the demonetisation decision and a 5-judge bench gave a 4-1 verdict in its favour. The court dismissed all 58 petitions filed in this case.
