Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury slammed the Centre over the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation. He also targetted Modi calling him crazy. Addressing a press conference, here on Monday, the Lok Sabha MP said, “Again, all of a sudden, he (PM Modi) announced the scrapping of Rs 2,000 notes. He is not Modi, he is ‘Pagla Modi’. People are calling him ‘Pagla Modi’. The country’s economy is already dwindling and he has further taken this step to worsen the situation. Now, Rs 2000 notes will not run in the market.” “The people are completely frustrated with this government. Now, people are raising their voice, they are saying that everyone (political parties) will have to come together under Congress’ leadership to fight against them (BJP),” he added.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes from circulation, but added they will continue to remain as legal tender. RBI had also advised banks to stop issuing Rs 2000 denomination banknotes with immediate effect. RBI, however, said that citizens will continue to be able to deposit Rs 2000 banknotes into their bank accounts and/or exchange them into banknotes of other denominations at any bank branch up to September 30, 2023. The ₹2000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of all ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes in circulation at that time. The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from ₹6.73 lakh crore at its peak as of March 31, 2018 (37.3% of Notes in Circulation) to ₹3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8% of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023.