Mamata calls demonetisation a big scandal, asks PM Modi to repeal it

Terming the demonetisation move as a "big scam" and "black emergency", Banerjee exhorted the people to make the campaign it.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (File | PTI)

LUCKNOW: Calling the Centre’s move to demonetize high value currency notes a hogwash, a big scandal and black emergency, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of helping his capitalist friends and business tycoons by thrusting the it upon the people.

Addressing a small gathering in Lucknow on Tuesday, Mamata exhorted the people of poll-bound state to give a befitting reply to Modi’s “notebandi with ‘votebandi’. She blamed the Prime Minister for pushing the people of the country, especially, the poor, farmer, deprived and downtrodden to pain and agony in the name of demonetization.

“Markets, farms, business establishments, shops are closed. People are suffering day in and day out in dearth of cash,” she said. Launching a broadside on Modi, the TMC chief accused the PM of
robbing the people off their hard-earned money by scrapping the high-value currency notes. Reminding him of his poll promise, Mamata said: “He has not been able to bring back the black money stashed abroad but has snatched away peoples’ money slyly by demonetizing the high value notes.”

Comparing Modi with Mohammad-bin-Tuglaq, Banerjee charged him with infringing the constitutional right of the people of the country. "Country will not be run as per the whims of one individual...he (Modi) is forcing things on people and this had not happened even during the dark days of Emergency," thundered the Trinamool Congress chief in her inimitable style.

The West Bengal Chief Minister asked Narendra Modi to lead by example and make the details of his bank accounts public before seeking the details of BJP MPs and MLAs. She also accused the senior BJP leaders of making huge property purchases just ahead of currency scrapping.

Addressing the meeting jointly with Samajwadi Party, Banerjee asked the Centre to repeal the move saying and vowed to continue her fight against the currency scrapping till it was reviewed. “Had I been in Prime Minister’s place, I would have rolled back the decision and apologised to the people of the country for this whimsical move which is making them suffer day in and day out,” she said.

Ridiculing the PM’s idea of bringing in cashless transactions, Banerjee wondered how could it be possible when 39,000 villages of the state like Uttar Pradesh, she claimed, had nearly no accessibility to banks.

Banerjee expressed her gratitude to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for helping her with arrangements, however, the Chief Minister was not present in the meeting. He was represented by his two
ministers— Pawan Pandey and Arvind Singh Gope – who had come with his message to the people.

Later, SP national vice president and Rajya Sabha MP Kiranmoy Nanda reiterated his party’s support to Mamata on the issue. "People of the state will undertake surgical strikes in the coming elections on the BJP which raised hue and cry over surgical strikes after going back on its promise of bringing back black money from foreign accounts," Nanda said.