Nitish Kumar Questions Benefits Of Demonetisation, Blames Banks

When the move was announced in 2016, Nitish Kumar had welcomed it.

“I was a supporter of demonetisation...but how many people benefited from it?”.

(Photo: The Quint)

In a meeting with bank officials in Patna, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar questioned the benefits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move for the common people, reported IANS. He also slammed banks for helping the wealthy during the entire process.

I was a supporter of demonetisation...but how many people benefited from it? Some powerful people shifted their cash from one place to another.

Nitish Kumar

This is being seen as a massive U-turn on the part of the Bihar chief minister, who, when demonetisation was announced in 2016, had welcomed the move. Some in the political circle have started questioning if this could signal another re-alignment of Kumar’s party, Janata Dal (United), away from the BJP, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

CNN News18 reported that the deputy chief minister of Bihar and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi downplayed Nitish’s comment at the same event, asserting that the CM had been “a supporter of demonetisation.”

In 2016, Nitish Kumar had said that while people might face problems in the beginning (due to demonetisation), the exercise will be fruitful in the future.