The opposition trained its guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Reserve Bank of India's decision on Friday to withdraw 2,000 currency notes from circulation, with some of the leaders comparing it to demonetisation.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the move is "typical of self-styled Vishwaguru.
"Typical of our self-styled Vishwaguru. First Act, Second Think (FAST). 2000 rupee notes introduced with such fanfare after that singularly disastrous 'Tughlaqi firman' of Nov 8 2016 are now being withdrawn," he said in a tweet.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore tweeted, "Second Demo disaster starts .. M = Madness."
Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram claimed that the Rs 2,000 note was a "band-aid" to cover up the "foolish decision" of demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
"As expected, the government/RBI have withdrawn the Rs 2,000 note and given time until September 30 to exchange the notes. The Rs 2,000 note is hardly a popular medium of exchange. We said this in November 2016 and we have been proved correct."
The Rs 2,000 note was a "band-aid" to cover up the "foolish decision" of demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes which were popular and widely exchanged currencies, he said.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Alka Lamba claimed that it probed, the demonetisation will prove to be the biggest scam of the century. "In the name of attacking black money by discontinuing 1000 rupee notes and issuing 2000 rupee notes, Prime Minister Modi only made the work of his fugitive capitalist friends easier - before demonetisation, friends (brothers) would have to run away with the country's money in double sacks. It would have been a problem," India Today quoted her as saying. "After demonetisation and the issue of Rs 2000 notes, the work of friends became easy. The work was done in half. Now neither fugitive friends will come, nor black money will come back and now, even the 2000 rupee note is going to disappear from the market," she added.
"This whole concept of starting the circulation, stopping the circulation of notes, or issuing of new notes, was started by PM Modi and the economy suffered due to this... I don't know what will be the pros and cons of this step but I hope the decision was taken by the experts," AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
