Indian opposition protest government cash cull

By Abdul Gani

GUWAHATI, India

Indian opposition leaders protested on Thursday against the government's scrapping of two currency notes, calling it "harassment" of the public.

The government decided to scrap the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes ($14.50) in order to tackle Black Money, the unregulated funds flowing through India's black market, but there have been widespread reports of people struggling to exchange their old currency for new, especially for many of the country's poor who rely on cash.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the scheme "monumental mismanagement" and the "legalized plunder of common people" during a speech to the upper house of the parliament.

"It is important to take note of grievances of the ordinary people who have suffered as a result of this imposition on the country overnight by the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi],” Singh said.

“And what has been done can weaken and erode our people’s confidence in the currency system and in the banking system. And my own feeling is that the national income, that is the GDP [Gross Domestic Product], can decline by about 2 percent as a result of what has been done,” Singh added, noting that 90 percent of the work force worked in the informal economy and more than half of agricultural laborers were in distress.

Since the scheme came into effect, Indian media have reported long queues at banks and ATMs across the country, with report of people dying from exhaustion while waiting.

“People with black money have worked the system and emerged triumphant. It's the poor daily wager, farmer and others with hard-earned money who now have found themselves without access to what is theirs," said senior Delhi-based journalist Seema Mustafa. "It's amazing how with one stroke the prime minister has economically further marginalized the marginalized.”

Opposition parties have decided to stage a nationwide protest against the demonetization scheme on November 28.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused the opposition of inventing reasons to run away from a debate on demonetization.

“We are not surprised that they did not like the anti-black money measures the government has taken...those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as blunder,” Jaitley was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of Indian news agency.