MUMBAI: The BJP on Thursday dared the Shiv Sena to take the “extreme step” after the chief of its coalition partner in the state government dubbed the demonetisation move as “extortion of common man” and asked the Centre to take former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s words on the issue seriously as they came from a “renowned economist”.
“The Shiv Sena is taking a hypocritical stand over black money. I dare them to take the extreme step which they have been threatening,” city BJP president and MLA Ahish Shelar said at Thane while addressing party workers. “If the Sena stands by black money, people will send them to Kala Paani,” he added.
Earlier, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asked why the people “didn’t feel this is their government”. “I won’t hesitate to take the extreme step,” he said hinting at severing ties with the BJP.
While criticising the decision to disallow district cooperative banks to give new ones in return for scrapped notes, Thackeray asked, “Which district cooperative bank had lent money to (fugitive loan defaulter and liquor baron) Vijay Mallya? How come the bank that gave him huge loans is being permitted to exchange notes?” he asked.
Referring to Manmohan’s scating remarks in the Rajya Sabha, he said the former prime minister was a noted economist and “one will have to take his opinions seriously”.
“All major democracies announce big decisions before implementing them. They also honour people’s opinions. Britain had a referendum over Brexit. After knowing of the people’s opinion, the prime minister stepped down. Will such a thing happen in India? the Sena supremo said.
“One person can’t decide for 125 crore people. The nation should have been taken into trust before going in for the demonetisation decision,” he said, adding “the people who trusted them (BJP) have been betrayed.”
“He appeared to have been very emotional while speaking on the topic. But what is the use of being emotional when the people are crying,” he went on.
“The drive against black money is creating suspicions. People are not able to withdraw their hard-earned money from banks,” he added.