Union minister for finance Arun Jaitley addresses a press conference at BJP headquarters in New Delhi. (Right) Former prime minister Manmohan Singh addresses a press conference in Ahmedabad. PTINew Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday called demonetization a "watershed moment" while former prime minister Manmohan Singh said it was a "reckless step", as party rivals clashed on the eve of its first anniversary to be observed as 'anti-black money' day by the BJP and 'black day' by Congress.
Lending weight to the fresh opposition attack on the Modi government over note ban, West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee alleged that the measure was a "big scam" that was announced to help vested interests convert black money into white money.
Singh and Jaitley were locked in a fresh war of words after the Congress veteran said he was repeating what he said earlier that demonetization was an "organized loot and legalized plunder."
Jaitley hit back at the former prime minister, insisting that demonetization was an "ethical drive and a moral step" that made corruption difficult. He said the "loot" was what happened in 2G scam, commonwealth games and allocation of coal blocks, whereas demonetization was an economic exercise based on ethical and moral rationales.
"An anti-black money drive is (an) ethical drive, a moral step. And what is morally and ethically correct has to be politically correct," the minister said at a BJP news conference in Delhi, targeting Singh.
"November 8, 2016 would be remembered as a watershed moment in the history of Indian economy," he said earlier in a 1,843 word blog titled, 'A Year After Demonetisation', adding that the date "signifies the resolve of this Government to cure the country from 'dreaded disease of black money'."
In the Facebook post, Jaitley said the demonetization decision has led to a larger formal economy, cleaner economy and bigger tax base, asserting that the government strongly stands by its decision a year after it made the "historic" announcement.
Prime minister Narendra Modi had on November 8 last year announced the demonetization of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in a bid to combat corruption, black money, terrorism and fake currency.
While the BJP has announced "anti-black money day” with its leaders fanning out across the country to highlight the measure's "successes", the Congress and other opposition parties has sought to corner the government by observing "black day" in protest against the note ban and "unparalleled damage" it caused to the country and the economy.
'Disastrous policy'
At an interactive session with businessmen and traders organized by the Congress in Ahmedabad in poll-bound Gujarat, Singh called note ban a "reckless step" and a "disastrous policy" which failed to achieve its stated objectives.
Singh said "demonetization was clearly not the way to end the menace of tax evasion and black money."
"Demonetization has proved to be a mere blister to reap political dividends while the real offenders have escaped. I repeat, this was an organized loot and legalized plunder," he added.
At a BJP press conference in Delhi, Jaitley said the BJP has a different perspective than the Congress on the issue of ethics as its priority is to serve the nation while for the opposition party it is about service to the family.
Yield a big zero: Mamata
Banerjee claimed that demonetization neither brought back black money stashed abroad nor it could combat terrorism or help the country develop.
"In all practical sense, it yielded a big, big zero," she said.
"Demonetization is a big scam. I repeat, demonetization is a big scam. If a thorough investigation is conducted, this will be proved," the chief minister alleged in a Facebook post.
Read more: Latest national news | Demonetization in-depth
