West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday criticised the Centre over the choice to withdraw ₹2,000 currency notes from circulation and termed it as a ‘billion dollar dhokha (fraud)’. Her comment got here hours after the Resereve Bank of India (RBI) introduced rolling again of ₹2,000 denomination foreign money notes from circulation.

CM Banerjee recalled the ‘sufferings’ folks endured because of demonetisation in 2016 that can not be forgotten.

“So it wasn’t ₹2,000 dhamaka but a billion dollar dhoka (fraud) to a billion Indians. Wake up my dear brothers and sisters. The suffering we have endured due to demonetisation can’t be forgotten and those who inflicted that suffering shouldn’t be forgiven,” she mentioned in a tweet.

On Friday, the RBI directed all banks in its notification to cease issuing ₹2,000 notes with quick impact as per the ‘clear note policy’. However, it mentioned residents can proceed to have the ability to deposit the foreign money notes at any financial institution department until September 30, 2023.

The ₹2,000 denomination banknotes had been launched after the Narendra Modi-led central authorities demonetised ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes in November 2016. As per RBI, the target of introducing ₹2,000 notes was met as soon as banknotes in different denominations turned obtainable in sufficient portions.

Notably, the central financial institution had stopped printing these foreign money notes in 2018-2019. The whole worth of those banknotes in circulation has declined from ₹6.73 lakh crore at its peak as on March 31, 2018 (37.3% of Notes in Circulation) to ₹3.62 lakh crore constituting solely 10.8% of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023.

Other political events together with Congress and CPI(M) together with Trinamool Congress leaders additionally criticised the transfer, claiming that the introduction of ₹2,000 notice helped some folks to stash black cash.

“It was forced on the people and left the economy in the doldrums. Several people had to pay with their lives for the eccentricity of the Narendra Modi government,” Congress chief within the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury mentioned.