Currency Crisis in India Causes 47 Deaths. Kerala CM Sits on Dharna
The Communist Party has given a fresh call to all its units to intensify the protests against Modi’s demonetization scheme and build a united movement.
By Rakesh Raman
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) reported today that 47 deaths have already taken place because of the demonetization decision taken by the BJP government headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.
Modi had demonetized currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 on November 8, saying that the step has been taken to check corruption and stop the flow of black money.
Common people and opposition parties in India are up in arms against the government because the decision to stop the circulation of currency is causing severe hardships to commoners.
Most believe that it was a crude decision of Modi government because people are not able to get their old currency notes exchanged with the new ones from banks and post offices.
[ Modi’s Monarchy: Banks in India Refuse to Pay People’s Money ]
As millions of people stand in long queues everyday to get their old currency notes exchanged for new ones, banks and post offices are not able to deal with the swelling demand. Even ATMs are empty.
Result: People are not able to buy the routine consumer items, patients are suffering because hospitals refuse to accept old currency, and small businesses have come on the verge of closure as they are not able to sell their products.
This war-like situation is causing deaths of innocent people. While the Communist Party has reported 47 deaths, some estimates suggest that the death toll is over 60 and nearly 80 million people stand in bank queues everyday with the hope that they will get new notes.
[ Demonetization May Ring Death Knell for Narendra Modi ]
However, the Modi government is not able to tackle the worsening situation. The Polit Bureau of the CPI (M) reiterates that till adequate supply of currency notes are available, transactions with old notes should be allowed.
Meanwhile, according to CPI (M), Vijayan Pinarayi of Kerala has become the first chief minister (CM) to sit on dharna (pictured above) to protect the people from the Modi government’s anti people demonetization policy.
“The people of the country are being subjected to extremely inhuman harassment and collapse of their day-to-day livelihood,” CPI (M) observed.
The party condemned the more callous steps taken by the Modi government which will intensify the suffering of the people caused by the utterly ill-conceived decision of illegalising 1000 and 500 rupees currency notes.
Instead of taking immediate measures to bring relief to the people, the government has now reduced the limit of exchanging notes per person from Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 2,000. This, according to CPI (M), will hit hard the poorer sections who will have to spend that much more time in queues converting their meager cash savings.
The Polit Bureau has given a fresh call to all its units to intensify the protests against Modi’s demonetization scheme and build a united movement.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a government award-winning journalist and runs free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.
Photo courtesy: CPI (M)
