The BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi had ripped into then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

The last time the centre decided to scrap currency notes to crack down on black or untaxed money, an opposition spokesperson had called it a "strongly anti-poor" move.It was January 2014. The Congress-led UPA government had announced that all currency notes issued before 2005 would be withdrawn by March 31 that year and must be exchanged for new notes with more safety features. The BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi had ripped into then Finance Minister P Chidambaram."The latest gimmick of finance ministry to demonetise the notes before 2005 is an attempt to obfuscate the issue of black money stashed outside the country... This measure is strongly anti-poor," Ms Lekhi had then said.She had accused Mr Chidambaram of formulating a scheme that would hit "the 'aam aurats' and the 'aadmis' - those who are illiterate and have no access to banking facilities."65 per cent of India's population did not have bank accounts, she had noted, pointing out that such people stored money in cash and would be go through extreme trouble to exchange the old money."People who have small savings, no bank accounts - their live savings will be targeted. This present scheme does nothing to remove black money from circulation," Ms Lekhi had said.Today, three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a shock announcement in a televised speech that 500 and 1000 rupee notes were being abolished, and as millions of Indians had to wait in long queues outside banks to exchange the notes now illegal, the BJP fielded not Meenakshi Lekhi but her boss in the BJP, party chief Amit Shah, to defend the move.Opposition parties who were criticising the decision, Mr Shah said, were supporting black marketers. "I can understand the pain of those keeping black money, fake currency, terrorists, hawala operators, naxalites and drug dealers with this decision. What has amazed me is the way some political parties are rattled," he said.While PM Modi's decision to take out the big notes from circulation has been praised by many as a strong step against black or untaxed money, several opposition politicians have criticized the government alleging that the move has caused hardship to the poor.The Congress' Rahul Gandhi stood in queue at a Delhi bank today to exchange money and said "there are no crorepatis in this queue... the government will never understand what these people are suffering."

Uddhav Thackeray of BJP ally Shiv Sena called the move "disastrous" for causing much inconvenience to the "common masses."PM Modi has thanked people in tweets for "Such warmth, enthusiasm & the patience to bear limited inconvenience for a greater good."