AAP Equates Demonetisation with 9/11, Kejriwal Says Reason for Disaster Still a Mystery

New Delhi: The AAP on Thursday termed demonetisation a "tragedy" and likened it to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US, as party chief Arvind Kejriwal questioned the rationale behind suddenly banning a bulk of the currency and claimed it was a "self inflicted deep wound" on the Indian economy.

On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination bank notes would cease to exist as legal tenders with immediate effect.

The withdrawal of the notes led to a liquidity crunch and people stood in serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs to exchange old notes.

The opposition parties have criticised the exercise as "ill-advised" and "disastrous" for the country, but the government has said demonetisation helped increase the tax base and allowed greater formalisation of the economy.

"Though the list of financial scams of Modi govt is endless, demonetisation was a self-inflicted deep wound on Indian economy which even two years later remains a mystery why the country was pushed into such a disaster?," Kejriwal said on Twitter.

AAP's national spokesperson Raghav Chadha said, "Just as 9/11 is remembered as a tragic and immensely sad day in the history of United States, we Indians recall 8/11 as the tragedy that devastated our economy."

He dubbed demonetisation the "biggest economic failure" in independent India, claiming it caused 35 lakh job losses while 115 people died in queues who were paid no compensation.

Chadha criticised Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, saying demonetisation "failed" to achieve its stated goals such as unearthing the blackmoney in circulation and checking terrorism.

The effects of demonetisation, including its role in culling blackmoney and stemming terrorism and Naxalism as well as its impact on the economy, are being discussed two years on.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Thursday demonetisation formalised the economy and increased tax base, allowing the government to allocate more resources for the welfare of the poor and infrastructure development.