Mamata, Sena, AAP seek president’s intervention
NEW DELHI — Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and leaders of three other parties including the Shiv Sena on Wednesday sought President Pranab Mukherjees intervention over the problems faced by people following the ‘financial calamity’ unleashed by the demonetisation move.
Joined by the leaders of National Conference, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and BJP ally Shiv Sena, Banerjee and 40 of her Trinamool MPs marched to Rashtrapati Bhavan demanding rollback of demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.
However, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave the march a miss, with MP Bhagwant Mann representing the party.
Dubbing demonetisation as a ‘big black scheme’, Banerjee said the currency spike decision has led to the deaths of around 20-30 people across the country and resulted in a loss of Rs 2 lakh crore to the GDP. “This is a big black scheme, today there are no vegetables in the market, no milk for babies and no medicine for the sick and the ailing. Around 20-30 people have already died, many of them due to stress,” said Banerjee.
She also called for a probe into the rise of the banks’ non-performing assets (NPAs).
“In the last six months, nonperforming assets (of banks) have increased substantially, there should be a probe into this. Even the government’s income declaration scheme did not attract a single paisa,” she claimed.
Equating Modi with the medieval era Delhi Sultan Muhammad Bin Tughlaq, Banerjee ridiculed “the totally unplanned” demonetisation move. “Now ATM means ‘Aayega toh milega’,” said Banerjee reflecting on the cash-starved citizens’ ordeal.
“The move was implemented without any planning, this has created financial calamity and financial emergency in the country. The country has been pushed towards anarchy,” she said.
Banerjee also said the Trinamool will bring an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday against demonetisation.