Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused the Opposition of making excuses to avoid a debate on the government’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, even as the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day. The Upper House was adjourned after Opposition parties created an uproar demanding the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who left the day’s proceedings following his predecessor Manmohan Singh’s speech.
The Centre is convinced of the validity of the steps taken to curb corruption and black money in the country, Jaitley told reporters. The Opposition was not ready for a debate on the issue and simply wanted the prime minister to be present during the proceedings, he said, adding that the government had made it clear that it was ready for a discussion on the matter with any Opposition party.
In an apparent reference to the Congress, Jaitley also said that the party most opposed to demonetisation was the one under whose administration there were the highest number of scams resulting in the generation of black money. There was no substance in the Opposition’s accusations, the finance minister said, according to ANI.
During the day’s proceedings, Manmohan Singh, in a rare address, had said the discontinuation of high-value currency notes was a form of “organised loot” and that it would reduce the country’s gross domestic product by 2% or more. Singh, who clarified that he did not disagree with the government’s objectives, said ordinary people were suffering because of the imposition of the move overnight.
Separately, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon earlier in the day after Samajwadi Party MP Akshay Yadav tore a sheaf of papers and threw them at House Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s desk. The Lower House was then adjourned for the day following disruptions by Opposition members once it reconvened. The Opposition has been seeking a vote for an urgent discussion in the Lok Sabha on the demonetisation issue.
While the National Democratic Alliance government has defended the move, the Opposition has accused it of mismanagement. On Wednesday, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi called for a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the demonetisation “scam”. “BJP organisations knew, as did a few industrialist friends of the prime minister,” Gandhi said.
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