NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that it is “anti-national” to support the demonetisation move “in the present form” as it is in reality a scam.
“It is the biggest scam of independent India. It would be anti-national to support demonetisation in its present form,” Kejriwal told TV channel NDTV.
He said the scandal was intended to gather enough cash from the public so that loans worth Rs eight lakh crore given to “big businessmen” by banks could be written off.
Kejriwal said the demonetisation doesn’t seem to be aimed at curbing corruption or black money or to turn a cash economy that is India into a cashless economy.
“It is not possible to convert cash economy to cashless economy overnight. It needs to be done slowly and with proper preparation.
“Hong Kong ended corruption in the 70s. Singapore did it. Even we did it in our 49-day government (in Delhi). But no one changed their currency to achieve that,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader said.
He added it was achieved by taking action against the corrupt and sending them to jail.
Kejriwal said the first step towards ending corruption would be to have all the political parties declare their black money transactions.
“But by demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, not even a single penny of black money will come into the banking system,” he added.
Asked what he would do if the government doesn’t reverse the decision, he said he would first discuss the issue with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee before taking a decision.
