From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former Union Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday hailed the Supreme Court verdict upholding the demonetisation as “historic” and asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to to say sorry, after the verdict, for his campaign against demonetisation even abroad and the Congress was running a campaign against the 2016 decision which proved to be the “biggest blow” to terror funding and cleansed the economy.
The ruling party’s reaction came minutes after the Supreme Court’s 4:1 majority judgment, holding that “the decision making process was not flawed, though one of the judges on the 5-judge Constitution Bench dubbed it as “unlawful.”
“It is a historic decision and is in the national interest. The Supreme Court has held a decision taken in the national interest valid,” Prasad said.
Prasad also hit out at Congress leaders, especially former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, for highlighting the minority judgment. They are ignoring with impunity the majority verdict to make uncharitable and scandalous statements, he said, slamming Chidambaram.
India has become a global leader in digital payment which was boosted after demonetisation, he told reporters, noting that the country notched up over 730 crore digital transactions worth over Rs 12 lakh crore in October this year alone. The dissenting judge has also said the policy was well-intentioned, Prasad added.
Shortly after the SC verdict, Congress hit out at the Narendra Modi government saying that the ”dissenting order is a welcome slap on the wrist of the Centre.” The Congress also said it’s wrong to say that the SC upheld the note ban order as the verdict does not deal with the outcomes of the currency ban move.
“Once the Hon’ble Supreme Court has declared the law, we are obliged to accept it. However, it is necessary to point out that the majority has not upheld the wisdom of the decision; nor has the majority concluded that the stated objectives were achieved. In fact, the majority has steered clear of the question of whether the objectives were achieved at all,” said Rajya Sabha MP and former union finance minister P Chidambaram.
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