New Delhi: Currency notes of Rs 2000 denomination are being sold “in black” and used for money laundering and terror financing, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sushil Kumar Modi said in the Rajya Sabha Monday, while urging the central government to “phase out” the high-value note first issued in the wake of demonetisation in November 2016.
Speaking later in the day in the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey defended demonetisation and warned Congress leaders to publicly declare the Rs 2000 notes he accused them of ‘hoarding’.
“Aur Rs 2000 ka note jo Congress ne bacha ke rakha hain woh nikal ke le aaiya, janta ke beech me le aaiye. Nahin toh ek din agar ghoshna kar denge ki Rs 2000 ka note itni tarik se khatam ho jayega, toh aap loag pareshani me pad jayenge (Congress should make public all the Rs 2000 notes it has saved. Or else, if one day there is an announcement that Rs 2000 notes will be discontinued, all of you will get into trouble),” Dubey said.
The issue was first raised by Sushil Modi during zero hour in the Upper House when the former deputy chief minister of Bihar asked the Union government to clarify its position on rumours doing the rounds that currency notes of Rs 2000 denomination were no longer legal tender.
“It is difficult to come across Rs 2000 notes in the market, you don’t get it in ATMs also these days….Since the last three years, RBI has stopped its printing and fake Rs 2,000 notes are being seized in large numbers,” he said.
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government introduced Rs 2000 notes in 2016 after declaring that currency notes of denomination Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were no longer legal tender — a move the government claimed would help reign in black money.
Sushil Modi went on to allege that many have since hoarded Rs 2000 notes in large quantities and that they were being used for illegal trade. “In some places, you’ll get Rs 2000 (note) in black, it’s being sold at a premium. Such notes are being used in a big way for money laundering and financing terror and other crimes,” he said.
To this effect, I urge GoI to gradually phase out the ₹2000 note over a designated time interval so that ppl can convert their legitimate holdings of the noted into lower-denomination notes.
— Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) December 12, 2022
He further urged the central government to gradually phase out the Rs 2000 note over a specified time interval, allowing people to convert their Rs 2000 notes into notes of lower denomination. “People should be given one-two year time, those who have Rs 2000 notes legally, that note they can exchange and after a specified time, there will be no need for such notes.” Adding, “Rs 2000 note means black money, Rs 2000 money means hoarding. If you have to stop black money, then you have to stop the Rs 2000 note.”
The Rajya Sabha MP also gave instances of how many advanced countries use lower denomination currency notes. “In the US, $100 denomination currency is highest, in China, the 100 yuan denomination currency is highest, in the European Union, it is 200 euros. In contrast, countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka have Rs 5000 as the highest denomination,” he said.
The European Central Bank, Modi said, discontinued currency notes of the denomination 500 euro way back in 2018, while Singapore stopped issuing S$ 10,000 notes in 2010 to curb illegal activities including drug trafficking, money laundering, terror funding, and tax evasion, among others.
“Since India is also becoming a hub for digital transactions, which also entail settlements of larger amounts, there is limited need for having a high-denomination currency note of Rs 2000,” he said, concluding his zero hour submission.
Hours later, the issue made an appearance in the Lower House during the discussion on supplementary demands for grants for the financial year 2022-23.
Countering Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who attacked the Modi government for unleashing hardships on the public by announcing demonetisation, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said the economy and the country were in bad shape when Modi took charge as prime minister in 2014.
“A bomb could’ve gone off anywhere, a riot could’ve happened anywhere, fake currency was the order of the day, drug dealers… from Sanjay Bhandari to Christian Michel, who is behind bars in the AgustaWestland case, all of these drugs and arms dealers… all this money from drugs, trafficking, when incidents like Nirbhaya were happening, didn’t you feel that to stop all this there is a need to strengthen the economy, that there is a need to remove black money,” remarked the MP from Jharkhand’s Godda.
Dubey claimed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had proposed demonetisation to end terror funding, cripple the illegal sale of arms and drugs, and end fake currency and black money. “And if RBI comes with a proposal to end terror, arms and drug money, fake currency, black money, then demonetisation is the way. So when we did demonetisation, was it wrong,” he asked on the floor of the house.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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