Arun Jaitley takes on opposition, says ‘scamsters are calling demonetisation a blunder’

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley slammed opposition, after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called demonetisation a ‘monumental mismanagement’ and said economy will get adversely affected.

The opposition has alleged the government does not want a debate on demonetisation and is not bothered about the inconvenience faced by the common man. The opposition is asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take part in the debate and give his opinion on the same. So far, Modi has not spoken on demonetisation in the parliament.

Amid the uproar in Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said, “We are ready for a debate. The opposition wanted to have a debate in presence of PM Modi and then started looking for excuses. First day it was a debate without any pre-conditions, from next day they started putting unreasonable conditions and it continues.”

Jaitley tore into opposition and raked up the scams that had hit the previous Congress-led UPA government hard.

“Opposition thinks demonetisation is a blunder. Don’t they think Commonwealth Games, 2G were a blunder? The entire nation has seen the government during whose rule black money was generated,” said Jaitley.

Earlier in the day in Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh said demonetisation was a blunder and would adversely affect the Indian economy. “In the long run, we’re all gone,” Singh had said.

READ ALSO: Manmohan Singh on cash ban: ‘In the long run we’re all dead’

“Those who didn’t consider scandals to be a blunder, they are considering demonetisation to be a blunder,” said Jaitley.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Indian government had created more havoc than Hitler.