SC did not say demonetisation was right: CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury

New Delhi [India], January 2 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday reacted to the decision of the Supreme Court's Constitution bench on demonetisation and said that the Court has not declared the decision 'right'.
"The Supreme Court only justified that Central government has the right to take the decision of Demonetisation but have not said that demonetisation was right," Sitaram Yechury said.
The top court on Monday upheld the Centre's decision taken in 2016 to demonetise the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations, as the five-judge Constitution bench dismissed a batch of petitions challenging demonetisation. The bench said that the decision of demonetisation, being the Executive's economic policy, cannot be reversed.
Speaking to ANI Sitaram Yechury said, "The Supreme Court has not said that demonetisation was right and a dissenting judge said that the decision taken by the government was to be taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but here the opposite thing happened and the government sought an opinion from the RBI. If the government had to take a decision on Demonetisation, then it is wrong to bypass the parliament. There was a need to take the opinion of the Parliament and this is the decision of the dissenting judge which is correct.
On the impact of demonetisation, the CPI (M) said that it has ruined India's economy. "Crores of people working in the informal sector are standstill, they have not recovered till date. Small factories, especially MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and small-scale industries are closed even today," he added.
He further reiterated the purpose and promise with which demonetisation was brought to the country and alleged that no target has been achieved by the government.
"The demonetisation took place to bring back the black money and promise to give Rs 15 lakhs to everyone and cease the fake currency. Even the Rs 2,000 note is not working anymore as fake currency has increased a lot. They promised that terrorism will be reduced, see what is happening today in Jammu and Kashmir," Yechury added.
"The government has not achieved any promise that they made during demonetisation and the economy has been ruined,' he said further. (ANI)