Black Day vs anti-Black Money Day: Congress, BJP indulge in a war of words

The opposition parties have rallied behind the Congress to observe today as the "Black Day" to protest against demonetisation.

The BJP and the Congress have left no stone unturned to justify their respective stands of the government's demonetisation decision taken on November 8 last year. While the Congress continued to slam the Centre for harming the economy due to note ban, the BJP defended by saying that it a systematic move aimed at curbing the black money menace.

The opposition parties have rallied behind the Congress to observe today as the "Black Day" to protest against demonetisation. The Union Government, on the other hand, decided to call the demonetisation anniversary as "anti-black money day".

Here is what leaders of the BJP and the Congress said about Centre's demonetisation move:

"Monumental mismanagement" and "organised loot": Manmohan Singh

Right from the time when demonetisation was announced by Modi in November last year, Singh has been a vocal critic of the move.He dubbed the move as "monumental mismanagement" and "organised loot and legalised plunder".

On Tuesday,Singh launched a scathing attack on Centre's twin blow - Demonetisation and GST.

"Unprecedented growth of imports by over Rs 45,000 Cr, a 23 percent increase in a year can be attributed largely to demonetisation, GST," he said.

"In first half of 2016-17, India's imports from China stood at Rs 1. 96 lakh crore. In 2017-18, it increased to Rs 2.41 lakh crore," Singh further added.

Jaitley called demonetisation a 'watershed moment'

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that demonetisation was a watershed moment in the Indian economy and it was done to change the status-quo.

"Post demonetisation our country has moved on to a much cleaner, transparent and honest financial system. Which will benefit future generations? On the other hand, the Congress has never taken any big steps to curb black money," Jaitley said on Tuesday.

Hitting back at former prime minister Manmohan Singh, he said, "We had made all preparations needed for demonetisation. It is wrong to say that it was an unprepared move."

'Demonetisation is a tragedy': Rahul Gandhi

The Congress vice-president, who has been staunchly opposing the note ban, on Wednesday, dubbed the demonetisation as a "thoughtless act".

"Demonetisation is a tragedy. We stand with millions of honest Indians, whose lives & livelihoods were destroyed by PM's thoughtless act," he wrote on twitter.

Raman Singh calls demonetisation 'historical and revolutionary step'

The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said that the note ban was a historical and revolutionary step towards curbing the circulation of black money.

"Black money is the biggest reason behind corruption, terrorism, poverty, and inflation. To free the country of these issues, PM Modi initiated this open fight with black money. This is a representation of PM's strong determination," he said.

The central government had on November 8, 2016, announced the demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

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