Arvind Kejriwal Demands Rollback Of Move To Scrap Old Notes, Calls It 'Huge Scam'

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the government's ambitious plan to withdraw 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from circulation was a "huge scam" and said it should be nixed immediately.

"Before the PM announced the move on Tuesday, the BJP and its friends had been alerted and they had already stashed their cash," he said.

Days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the dramatic announcement on Tuesday, a BJP official in Punjab posted photos of bundles of the new 2,000 rupee notes on Twitter, Mr Kejriwal said.

Also as evidence, Mr Kejriwal offered that though deposits in banks were plummeting in the months leading to July this year, large sums had been deposited since then, indicating that many people had tried to get rid of untaxed wealth.

"The other thing is that despite all the chaos that is going on, no black money will come back in the system. Black money will only be redistributed, it will only change hands," he said, adding that the move was encouraging touts and agents.

"Several people have died in the last few days, there is chaos everywhere. Modi ji's surgical strike is not against black money, but against the common man who had saved up... we demand an immediate rollback," he said.

Hailed as a landmark move to curb 'black' or unaccounted wealth, PM Modi on Tuesday night declared that 500 and 1,000 rupee notes illegal from midnight. New 500 and 2,000 notes would replace them, making the old ones "worthless pieces of paper", he said.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and also BJP ally Shiv Sena however questioned the move, saying it would inconvenience people.

Long queues outside banks and ATMs have been reported from all parts of the country for the last three days as people scrambled to exchange old currency notes and bank employees worked overtime to serve customers.