Demonetisation has made rich richer: Yechury

New Delhi, Dec 8: Dubbing demonetisation a "man-made disaster", CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday said it had only made the rich richer at the cost of the poor.

He also said that the government had failed to achieve its four stated objectives when it came up with the note ban a month ago - battling corruption, black money, terror financing and fake currency. 

"Each of these aims has proven to be wrong, both factually and by empirical evidence on ground," Yechury said on Facebook on the completion of a month of the November 8 ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. 

"He has now shifted the goalpost to digital payment, a word missing in his TV speech on November 8, which makes no sense in a country like ours, unless the goal is to exclude the poor and downtrodden from participating in India's economy," said the Marxist leader. 

Yechury said demonetisation had brought the "economy to a halt in the last month" and said no section of the society had been left untouched from the turmoil, hardship and pain caused by the "Tughlaqi firman".

Pointing to corporate loans written off by the Centre, Yechury accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of giving another opportunity to black money hoarders to convert their ill-gotten wealth to white by paying additional tax.

"If anyone has any doubts about where the Prime Minister's sympathies lie, do remember that the Modi government has written off Rs 1.12 lakh crore of unreturned bank loans in the past two years. 

"During Modi's reign, the share of richest 1 percent in India's wealth has risen from 49 percent to 58.4 percent.

"The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. 

"The Modi government has made the rich richer, all at the cost of the poor and the middle class which has been made to suffer even more with the demonetisation disaster," added Yechury.