Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday said the decision to ban old Rs. 500 and 1,000 notes was taken to strengthen the hands of the nation's poor. Addressing a farmers' rally in Deesa town of Banaskantha district, PM Modi said the "honest have been looted" for 70 years and that he stood with the poor of the country. "With our step on currency notes we have been successful in weakening the hands of terrorists and those in fake currency rackets," he said.