From ex-RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to nobel laureate Amartya Sen, most experts had criticised the policy. However, there are enough public personalities have been quite vehement in their support of the disastrous move.
Twitter user Chirag Patnaik (@Chirag) has compiled a list of such ‘experts’ who had lauded demonetisation as a success, or as he puts it, “who all supported this insanity called #demonetisation? Who were those who sold their souls to Modi for power or coin?”
This list includes Bibek Debroy (Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister), Sunil Alagh who had said, “Our problem is that there is too much democracy in India — that’s why difficult decisions never get taken”, economist Jagdish Bhagwati who had called demonetisation a “courageous and substantive economic reform”, and ofcourse, S. Gurumurthy who has recently been appointed to the RBI Board by the Modi government. Industrialist Mukesh Ambani, had also praised demonetisation.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India released it’s annual report which revealed that 99.3 per cent of the demonetised currency had returned to the banking system.
This has dismantled all claims about demonetisation made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, and especially Prime Minister Modi’s exaggerated lie that “Rs. 3 lakh crore of black money has been recovered.”
Here is the complete Twitter thread listing ‘experts’ who supported demonetisation.
1/ It was always clear to most non-bhakts that #demonetisation was a stupid (and I’m being polite here) move economically.
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
2/ Once you layered the human cost, the move was downright unconscionable. We are aware of the prominent folks who opposed it.
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
3/ They were very helpfully termed as black-marketers, cash hoarders, anti-national by the bhakt brigade.
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
4/ But who all supported this insanity called #demonetisation? Who were those who sold their souls to Modi for power or coin?
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
5/ Here’s a list: Starting with @surjitbhalla, who said: Demonetisation is a Big Bang reform. https://t.co/Svx1jozrtq
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
6/ There was @bibekdebroy: Demonetisation is only one part of clean-up of economy. https://t.co/xMyGJaU7Lb .
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
7/ Also @bibekdebroy: 10% currency won’t come back. https://t.co/pSzYZHJvA4
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
8/ How can we forget @sunilalagh who declared: “Our problem is that there is too much democracy in India” https://t.co/vOiJLx6U2l
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
9/ Jagdish Bhagwati: Demonetisation is a courageous reform that will bring substantive benefits. https://t.co/bBqiJsmNHE
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
10/ Then came @monikahalan who first said: We did say we wanted less corruption. https://t.co/eNS1lln3TY
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
11/ And then @monikahalan saw success in political victory: Here is how Namo’s Demo gamble paid off. https://t.co/lX7sPFqi1N
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
12/ We had Manish Sabharwal declaring: Why demonetisation will work. https://t.co/WzX5Jr4Jpd
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
13/ Another editor @thesuniljain weighed in with: the poor will benefit from Narendra Modi’s demonetisation drive. https://t.co/9ALF2rb6Bq
— Chirag (@chirag) September 1, 2017
14/ KV Kamath: Demonetisation likely to fetch government Rs 2.5 lakh crore. https://t.co/GX4s6rcTwZ
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017“>
15/ @rahulkanwal: PM Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move gave economy Rs 5 lakh crore advantage. https://t.co/EClE4RMbWZ
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
16/ @vdehejia (with Bhagwati): The concerns of its legion of critics have all been proven plain wrong. https://t.co/9de7mRBNV1
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
17/ @kiranshaw tried to steamroll everyone with: Opposition to demonetisation is a political vendetta. https://t.co/VRDTAogSS5
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
18/ @ajit_ranade: demonetisation has destroyed Rs 2-3 lakh crore of black money.https://t.co/aJ86ZJni02
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
19/ Aditya Puri: slams analysts, economists for predicting GDP will fall after note ban. https://t.co/p1JhxDoyi3
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
20/ @anandmahindra: demonetisation is a very bold move which everyone should respect. https://t.co/HN3SfBqOCU
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
21/ @NandanNilekani: Noteban shock is good for India. https://t.co/fGThScwEPd
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
22/ Narayan Murthy: We should all be celebrating. https://t.co/lK991Y7Tdb
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
23/ Arvind Panagariya: Demonetisation to benefit economy in long run.https://t.co/v3jcDf01lo
— Chirag (@chirag) September 2, 2017
24/ @swaminomics: upto 3 lakh crore benefit for the govt. https://t.co/dXXlHcgVeF
— Chirag (@chirag) September 3, 2017