The former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh spoke about the causes and results of the GST implementation and Demonetization. He said that GST was a “complete disaster for our economy”, and lamented that loss of the small business’ in India. Manmohan spoke in Gujarat, about the economic conditions of the country and had quite terse words for Narendra Modi. He thinks that Modi didn’t consider the plight of the poor people of India, and that he would never have sanctioned such law if he knew the conditions of the farmers and people in villages who have a hard time eating one time meal.
“To promote a less cash economy, coercive steps like demonetisation are ineffective,” he said. “No where in the world has any nation taken such a drastic step that swept off 86% of the currency in circulations. I repeat what I said in Parliament: this was an organized loot and a legalized plunder.”
Manmohan further commented that China has benefited the most from the changes, citing the cost of the imports from China being Rs. 1.96 Lakh Crore in the first half of 2016-2017, and then almost doubling up to Rs. 2.42 Lakh Crore in 2017-2018.
On the topic of Demonetization, he said, “November 8 was a black day for our economy and, indeed, our democracy. Tomorrow, we mark one year since the disastrous policy was thrust on the people of our country.”
Demonetization was carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 8 November 2017. It was meant to draw out all the black money from the Indian economy by banning the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, and asking the public to convert them to Rs 100. The Demonetization was deemed to be a failure, and was heavily criticized by India politicians.
