{"id":28763,"date":"2017-10-04T15:06:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T09:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=28763"},"modified":"2017-10-04T15:12:50","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T09:42:50","slug":"yashwant-sinha-bjps-shourie-hammers-modi-govt-calls-noteban-idiotic-jolt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/india-news\/yashwant-sinha-bjps-shourie-hammers-modi-govt-calls-noteban-idiotic-jolt\/","title":{"rendered":"After Yashwant Sinha, BJP\u2019s Shourie hammers Modi govt, calls noteban an \u201cidiotic jolt\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former union minister says demonetisation was the largest money-laundering scheme ever conceived and implemented by a government<\/em><\/p>\n

Days after former finance minister Yashwant Sinha<\/a> created a stir with his forthright critique of finance minister Arun Jaitley\u2019s handling of the Indian economy, former Union minister and BJP veteran Arun Shourie has now launched a broadside against Prime Minister Narendra Modi<\/a>\u2019s government over its economic policies; demonetisation in particular.<\/p>\n

Terming demonetisation \u201cthe largest money-laundering scheme ever conceived and implemented entirely by the government,\u201d Shourie told news channel NDTV in an interview that Modi\u2019s noteban which rendered out 86 per cent of the currency circulating in the economy as no longer legal tender was \u201cidiotic jolt\u201d. The former union minister and veteran journalist said that demonetisation had little impact on curbing the shadow economy \u2013 Modi\u2019s stated objective for behind the move \u2013 and that \u201ceveryone who had black (money) converted it into white\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former Union minister went on to say that while demonetisation \u201cwas a bold step. I have to remind you, suicide too is a bold step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shourie\u2019s comment on black money having been \u201cconverted into white\u201d is backed by the recent RBI report which suggested that nearly 99 per cent of the banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes had been returned to banks. He added that none of the government\u2019s arguments in support of demonetisation had yielded fruit. \u201cWhich argument today survives? Black money? All of it turned white. Terrorism? Terrorists are still coming into India. At the end they have nothing to say,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n

The senior BJP leader who held the disinvestment portfolio in former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee<\/a>\u2019s NDA government also slammed the Modi regime\u2019s implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)<\/a> stating that the \u201cimportant reform\u201d was implemented \u201cpoorly\u201d. Shourie emphasised that \u201crules (for the GST rollout) have been amended seven times\u00a0within three months<\/span>\u201d and insisted that what makes it worse is the \u201cevent management of the GST\u2026A tax reform is being compared to the independence of India (a reference to the \u2018stroke of the\u00a0midnight<\/span>\u00a0hour\u2019 like rollout of GST on\u00a0July 1<\/span>\u00a0this year).\u201d<\/p>\n

The BJP leader didn\u2019t spare his party\u2019s national president Amit Shah<\/a>, calling him \u201cthat famous economist\u201d while slamming his comment in which he had sought to blame the dip in India\u2019s GDP growth rate on \u201ctechnical reasons\u201d and not the aftermath of demonetisation and GST rollout as is largely believed.<\/p>\n

$\"After$ <\/a>Shourie reiterated his \u201cgovernment run by two and a half persons\u201d comment, stating that \u201cNarendra Modi, Amit Shah and one in-house lawyer\u2026 don\u2019t have the expertise and they have surrounded themselves by people who don\u2019t have the expertise (of running the country).\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that the Modi government was functioning in a \u201csealed echo-chamber\u201d and claimed that \u201cThey (those in the government) don\u2019t hear what is happening\u2026 The distress the RBI has documented of small and medium enterprise. These poor fellows had been clamouring and shouting. Nobody heard them (sic)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Taking a dig at the Modi government\u2019s proclivity for organizing mega-events to unveil all their programs, Shourie said: \u201cTheir core competence is event management. They are so self-satisfied with it. They are just briefing each other, not listening to others… They are concerned about 300-feet statute, bullet trains etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shourie also made it a point to throw figures and data at the government to back claims of an economic downturn. Stating that attacks against the government over the slowing pace of the economy was based on hard facts, Shourie said: \u201cthose facts emerge from official reports such as The Economic Survey, the RBI surveys, the SBI\u2019s report etc. Is it a fact or not that GDP has collapsed to 3.7 per cent according to the old series? Is it a fact or not that index of industrial production has gone down from about 9 per cent in 2015-16 to about 1.7 per cent in April to July?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"