People Hail Modi Government's Demonetisation Move, Says Jayant Sinha

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Thursday (01 December) said the National Democratic Alliance government's demonetisation move got an overwhelming response from people.

The minister went on to add that the BJP's performance in local body elections in Maharashtra and Gujarat as a virtual referendum on the demonetisation drive.

The local body polls were held after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his demonetisation initiative on November 8.

Sinha said that people are happy and willing to go through inconveniences in the fight against corruption and termed the Modi government's demonetisation move as a master stroke to fight black money and corruption.

He lamented that the opposition parties were not ready to accept that the government took these historic and transformational measures for the benefit of the country.

Sinha said that it is tragic that the opposition disrupted the proceedings of Parliament and accused the opposition of running away from the demonetisation debate.

The BJP leader said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said he was aware of the hardships being faced by people in the wake of his demonetisation decision.

He further added that Prime Minister Modi has created a 'new normal' for the country's economy by breaking all stereotypes of the past through his demonetisation move.

Tax revenue would go up as banks are going to find that they are in a much better situation and at the same time counterfeit currency will not come back in circulation because the Prime Minister has already announced that the money collected in Pradhan Mantri Garbi Kalyan Yojana scheme would be used for projects in irrigation, housing, toilets, infrastructure, primary education, primary health and livelihood so that there is justice and equality, he added.

The minister said that Digital India is not a distant dream. Nandan Nilekani, former Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, is of the view that demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes will help India achieve in 3-6 months what it could have done in 3-6 years in terms of the digitisation of Indian economy for financial services.

Sinha said that it would be premature to gauge the impact of the demonetisation on the economy at present. However, many economists say cash crunch after demonetisation is expected to slowdown India's fourth-quarter GDP growth. The minister refused to predict to anything regarding economic growth at this juncture.