Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday suggested that the Centre is considering raising taxes for the capital markets, while defending his controversial move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Modi spent the day at a number of public events, including the inauguration of the controversial Shivaji memorial in Mumbai, and made claims about the efficacy of the demonetisation move at each juncture.

“The time has come for the ruin of dishonest people, this is a cleanliness campaign,” Modi said. “After 50 days, the troubles of honest people will start to reduce and the problems of dishonest people will begin to increase,” he said at one such event in Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai, according to PTI.

Earlier in the day, at a function for the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Modi said his government was looking to execute “sound and prudent economic policies” that would benefit the country in the long term, in particular suggesting that he favours higher taxes from market participants. “The low contribution of taxes may be owing to the structure of our tax laws. Low or zero tax rate is given to certain types of financial income.”

Elsewhere, after laying the foundation stone for the Rs 3,600-crore Shivaji statue on board a hovercraft in the Arabian sea, Modi said, “Even in the midst of struggle, Shivaji Maharaj remained a torchbearer of good governance... His courage was known but there are so many more aspects of Shivaji Maharaj we must know about,” according to NDTV. The construction of the lavish memorial has drawn criticism for its high cost to taxpayers, the disruption of fishing economies and damage to the environment.