Modi Has Created Bharat Bandh, Says Opposition On Notes Ban Protest
NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met senior ministers and held discussions on the demonetisation row that has stalled the proceedings of the Winter session of Parliament. The government is deciding on a floor strategy to counter the Opposition over the demonetisation issue in Parliament.
Earlier today, Opposition parties today held a meet in Parliament to chalk out strategy to end the ongoing logjam over the demonetisation move. Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agarwal said that while all the opposition parties are united on demonetisation policy, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) is maintaining a dual stand on the issue.
The deadlock in Parliament continued over demonetisation issues as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed repeated adjournments earlier on Friday. The Congress has been demanding PM Modi’s intervention on the matter.
“Can the opposition please decide what its stand is,” said union minister Ananth Kumar, pointing out that parties like the Congress and Mamata Banerjee have divergent views on the government’s ban of 500- and 1,000-rupee notes. The opposition said it is the PM who has forced the bandh by refusing to explain his decision in parliament.
Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress wants the abolition of high-denomination notes to be reversed. The Congress and others say they agree with the intent to combat black money and do not seek a rollback but want urgent remedies to help rural India, especially farmers, who are stranded without cash.
The opposition’s demand for a speech from the PM in parliament on the notes ban continues with angry disruptions. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was among top leaders who held a protest at parliament today. “This deadlock can only end when the PM comes for discussion in the house,” said Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.
In a fiery defense of his move, PM Modi said yesterday in his radio address Mann Ki Baat that today’s strike or bandh is a corruption bandh, fueling the opposition’s demand for an apology. Opposition leaders say the PM has repeatedly branded them as corrupt or siding with the corrupt because they have questioned the chaotic implementation of the new policy which has been weighed down by a shortage of new notes.
Several parties including the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have said they do not support a shutdown because of the huge cost involved. But they will continue their protests in Parliament and on the streets.
Uttar Pradesh politician Mayawati said her party BSP is not part of the shutdown but asserted that she is strongly opposed to the notes ban. “The BJP should declare how much money it has deposited in banks in the last 10 months,” she said on reports of a land-buying spree in Bihar ahead of demonetization. The opposition has seized these transactions to claim the BJP tipped off its own about the outlawing of notes.
In West Bengal, one of three states where the Left parties have a presence, there has been virtually no impact of the bandh call this morning. Schools, offices and factories are open. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool will lead a protest march in capital Kolkata in the afternoon. In Kerala, where the Left heads a coalition government, shops are closed, banks are open, but public transport is in thinly available.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has emerged as that rare species – an opposition leader fully backing the PM on the notes ban – and has declared his party will not participate in any protest against the reform because it agrees that it will check corruption and black or undisclosed money.
The vote of confidence from Mr Kumar, traditionally not a fan, has provoked thanks from BJP chief Amit Shah on twitter. At a rally in Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi lashed out at the opposition for planning to shut down the country when he was trying to shut down corruption.
