On the seventh anniversary of the BJP-led Centre’s demonetization decision, the Congress on Wednesday said it failed to achieve the objectives as it was a “monumental blunder” of the Modi government and has blood on its hands for a reckless decision.

In a statement, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Seven years ago today, on November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inflicted demonetisation on an unsuspecting nation. A decision that broke the back of the Indian economy and epitomised the unique combination of hubris, inhumanity and economic illiteracy that is the hallmark of the Modi government.”

He said that a travesty repeated again with the unplanned, sudden lockdown on March 24, 2020, which led to lakhs of migrant workers walking hundreds and thousands of kms back home.

“Who can forget the Prime Minister mocking people’s suffering, laughing and saying ‘ghar mein shadi hai, paisa nahi hai’? Who can forget the hundreds of poor and middle-class people who died waiting in long lines to convert their notes, even as the wealthy managed to exchange their banknotes with ease?” he asked.

He said that demonetisation along with a badly designed and hurriedly rushed through GST (goods and services tax) finished off India’s job-generating small and medium businesses, caused a 45-year unemployment high, and ended the economic recovery that had begun in 2013, all while failing to achieve any of its stated objectives.