Anna Hazare praises Central government, calls demonetisation of currency a 'revolutionary' step

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare hailed the Centre for its "bold and revolutionary" decision of scrapping the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, saying it will curb black money.

"This revolutionary step will curb black money, corruption and terrorism (funding) to a large extent," Hazare told PTI."The previous governments never showed the will to crackdown on black money. The present dispensation has taken a bold step and this will strengthen the democracy," he said.

Pointing out "discrepencies" in funding of political parties, the veteran social activist said the next course of action for the government should be to "clean up" the election process.

"Now the government should accept the challenge to eliminate black money from the poll process and politics as well by bringing in large electoral reforms," he said, ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled in some states next year.

Hazare alleged that almost all political parties accept huge cash donations for elections but furnish receipts (for amounts below Rs 20,000) against donors to avoid coming under the scanner of Income Tax officials and RTI.

"Hence, it is time the government ensures transparency in the poll process to make it more credible," he said.

However, he cautioned that adequate safeguards need to be taken before ushering in the new currency regime.

After the Narendra Modi government came to power, the Gandhian was often seen attacking it for its "failure" to bring back black money stashed in tax havens abroad.