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The Opposition in the Rajya Sabha asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to clarify whether the government has decided to scrap the newly launched Rs 2,000 note and introduce a Rs 1,000 coin. However, Jaitley who was present in the House, did not respond even as the Opposition members insisted for clarification from him on the issue.
Raising a point of order during the Zero Hour, Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Agrawal said, “The government has taken a decision to scrap the Rs 2,000 note. The RBI has been given orders not to print the Rs 2,000 notes ... If any policy decision has been taken during the Parliament Session, the tradition is to announce it in the House.”
So far, the RBI has printed 3.2 lakh crore pieces of Rs 2,000 notes. Agarwal said that the RBI has stopped printing of these notes. “One note ban has been done, the second one is being planned,” he noted. He alleged that the earlier note ban decision was taken by the government and not the RBI. “The RBI board had opposed it but the government took the decision. The earlier decision (of demonetisation) was taken by the government, the second one is also from the government,” he said.
Echoing his views, the Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad too sought clarification from the government on whether it was planning to introduce Rs 1,000 coins.“Every day we read about coins of 1,000, 100 and 200. What is the actual status? Are we to go by what media is writing? The House is to be enlightened by the Finance Minister. What is the truth?,” he asked.
Adding that there was no politics in this issue, he asked, “Are we going to have coin of Rs 1,000? To carry coins, we have to purchase a bag. We must know. Our sisters have the purse. We shall also have to buy purse just to carry the coins of Rs 1,000.”
Another member from the Opposition, Tiruchi Siva (DMK) said he cannot dispense with the media reports completely and sought clarification from the government on the issue. Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said the issue was serious as the rumours are strong. He wanted the government to clarify and stop the rumours, warning the government that the people will start returning the Rs 2,000 notes.
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