Bharatiya Janata Party MPs of a parliamentary committee have obstructed the adoption of one of its reports that was critical of the Narendra Modi government’s decision to demonetise high-value currency notes in 2016.
The panel, whose term ends on August 31, is headed by Congress leader Veerappa Moily and comprises other politicians, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Seventeen of the 31 members of the committee are from the BJP, according to India Today.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, in its draft report, said that demonetisation had huge ramifications, including the loss of at least one percentage point of the GDP, and unemployment in informal sectors, PTI reported. Though the draft itself has been ready since at least March, several BJP members in the 31-member panel have opposed it from the beginning.
Twelve of the BJP members wrote a note to Moily opposing the draft report. “Demonetisation was the mother of all reforms,” MP Nishikant Dubey wrote, adding that all citizens supported the move. “The decision choked the supply of black money and improved inflation outlook.”
The panel has been studying demonetisation for the past two years and had questioned the Reserve Bank of India chief and finance ministry officials several times.
However, it could not adopt the report that said demonetisation was “ill-conceived”. The report had also urged the government to objectively study the impact of the note ban on the Indian economy.
If Moily had urged for a vote on the report, it could have led to two different, completely contrasting reports, according to India Today. So, there was no vote to adopt the report even on the panel’s last meeting before its term ended, and this has made the report practically worthless, it added.
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