Demonetisation has flopped, says Kejriwal

"The entire scheme is a flop, it has proved a failure," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader told a news conference here.

He said Modi's ego had put the entire nation into misery and pushed back the country's economy by a decade in just 20 days.

The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, announced by Modi on November 8, was meant to check black money, corruption, terror funding and counterfeit currency.

Kejriwal said the scheme had failed in all the aspects.

He said black money economy had galloped since the note ban was announced and the new currency was being used for corruption.

"After November 8 corruption has increased 10 times. Many cases of bribery in new 2,000 rupee notes have surfaced. Modi has, in fact, made it easier now to take bribes," Kejriwal said.

Terrorists had already got hold of the new currency even as ordinary people across the country were struggling to get them due to a severe cash crunch caused by demonetisation, the AAP leader said.

He said that despite all the sufferings of the people, not a single penny of black money had been recovered and Rs 8 lakh crore deposited so far was the hard earned money of the people.

He said the "factories" printing counterfeit currency appeared to be working faster than the RBI printing press. 

"After demonetisation, even old counterfeit Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes are being converted into new Rs 2,000 notes.

"The nation has been cheated. We demand that a case of fraud be lodged against whoever is responsible.

"The PM should declare the date from when people can withdraw their own money on their terms because it does not look like happening even after January 1."

Kejriwal said Modi was scared of facing Parliament because he feared the issue of alleged Sahara and Birla payoffs to him would be raised by the opposition.

"If he is innocent, he should face Parliament. His absence raises suspicion whether the allegations that he took bribes are actually true."