Demonetisation verdict: Apex court's decision welcome sign for BJP ahead of 2024 but Opposition too in no mood to let it pass

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, January 2

Coming less than a year and a half ahead of the crucial 2024 general elections, the decision by the Supreme Court on Monday to uphold Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘controversial’ demonetisation decision as “valid and legal” came as a much welcome sign for the ruling BJP facing constant criticism of the mega 2016 economic move.

While the BJP’s former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hailed the move, asserting that the exercise was done for valid reasons like eradicating fake currency, countering terror funding, black marketing, etc, the opposition too seemed to be in no mood to allow it to pass as merely that.

Senior CPM leader Thomas Isaac said the apex court upholding the Centre’s decision by 4:1 “does not make it (demonetisation) a less Himalayan blunder” as the “adverse impact of demonetisation on the commercial, service agriculture and various other sectors was continuing”.

“The SC’s majority decision that demonetisation was legal does not make it a less Himalayan blunder that torpedoed India’s 8 per cent growth, resulted in a national GDP loss of nearly Rs 15 lakh crore and horrendous suffering to the people. Those responsible shall be tried in people’s court,” Isaac tweeted.

Agencies also reported Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal saying that the verdict only looked into legal and technical aspects as it proved “detrimental to the growth of various sectors and ruined for some time many areas of the economy”.

Balagopal said the serious impact of demonetisation on India’s social and economic growth had been proved in studies by various economists and financial experts. “There is no solution in the verdict to the financial crisis that resulted out of it,” he was quoted as saying, recounting the other side-effects of the move.

In fact, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram called the minority dissenting judgment a “welcome slap on the wrist of the government that would go down in history as memorable”

“Once the Hon’ble Supreme Court has declared the law, we are obliged to accept it. However, it is necessary to point out that the majority has not upheld the wisdom of the decision; nor has the majority concluded that the stated objectives were achieved. In fact, the majority has steered clear of the question whether the objectives were achieved at all,” Chidambaram tweeted, saying that Congress was happy with the minority judgement that pointed “illegality and irregularities in the demonetisation”.

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