'Saamana' editorial slams SC decision on demonetisation, says it supports country's economic massacre

In a strong dissent to the Supreme Court's decision on demonetisation, Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece 'Saamana' on Wednesday said that calling the government decision "valid" means to "support the economic massacre of the country".

The editorial termed the demonetisation "economic terrorism" and said, "To say that the decision of demonetisation is valid is like supporting the economic massacre of the country. One has to bow before the decision of the Supreme Court, saying, in the case of demonetisation, Modi is right."

The editorial further argued that it was a kind of "economic terrorism and massacre".

"It was an economic massacre. Hundreds of people died in the queues in the banks. Because of this economic carnage, thousands if not lakhs of people became unemployed due to the setback to industry and trade. The country's economy collapsed. Yet our Supreme Court on Monday ruled, 'There was nothing wrong in the decision of demonetisation," it said.

'Saamna', further in its editorial said that the country is "proud of" the SC's Justice BV Nagarathna who dissented with the majority judgment on the point of the Centre's powers under section 26(2) of the RBI Act and said the scrapping of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 series notes had to be done through legislation and not by notification.

"Out of five judges, only Nagarathna lodged a clear opinion against the decision of demonetisation calling it an illegal decision by the government. His opinion is the opinion of the country," it said.

'Saamna' further said that the move made by the Central government totally failed as it led to many people committing suicide and businesses getting destroyed.

"Prime Minister Modi suddenly appeared on TV at 8 pm on November 8, 2016, to announce the cancellation of 1000 and 500 rupee notes from circulation. PM gave this blow to stop the flow of fake notes in the currency forever, to curb the funding of terrorists in Kashmir, and to break the back of drug peddlers, but even after six years, nothing happened regarding the reasons given for demonetisation," the editorial said.

It also claimed that fake notes are still in circulation instead of the ban on the RS 500 and 1000 currencies in 2016.

"Black money, terrorism, narcotics business is going on unabated and drugs worth lakhs, thousands of crores were seized at Gujarat port. All these illegal activities are continuing even after demonetisation. The decision was a kind of arbitrariness," the editorial argued.

Notably, Supreme Court on Monday upheld the decision of the Central government taken in 2016 to demonetise the currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 denominations.

A five-judge Constitution bench dismisses a batch of petitions challenging the Centre's 2016 decision to demonetise Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes and said the decision, being the Executive's economic policy, cannot be reversed.

The Supreme Court on Monday affirmed by a 4:1 majority the central government's November 8, 2016, decision to demonetise the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations and said that demonetisation cannot be set aside on the ground that it caused hardship to citizens.A five-judge Constitution bench held that merely because some citizens suffered hardships due to demonetisation, it was not reason enough to hold the exercise illegal.

The apex court's judgment came on a batch of 58 petitions challenging the demonetisation exercise announced by the Centre in 2016.

The petitions have claimed that the due process required for the demonetisation was not followed, and the rights of Indian citizens were violated due to the arbitrary decision.

Justice Nagarathna, meanwhile said that practices like hoarding black money and counterfeiting coupled with corruption are "eating into the vitals" of our society and economy and any measure intended to strike at them must be commended.

(ANI)

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