Mamata Banerjee to Lead Protests Against Demonetization
Common people and opposition parties in India are up in arms against the Modi government because the decision to stop the circulation of currency is causing severe hardships to commoners.
By Rakesh Raman
As millions of people in India are suffering because of the demonetization scheme of the government, it has become the biggest humanitarian crisis in independent India.
While most opposition parties have been debating in Parliament on the issue, it has not deterred the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is mocking at the human sufferings.
However, it is not possible to dethrone Modi and get rid of his government because the Indian political system is totally flawed and people will have to tolerate his dictatorship till 2019 when the next Lok Sabha election would take place.
[ Modi’s Monarchy: Banks in India Refuse to Pay People’s Money ]
Meanwhile, the Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee has taken the right step to take her protest to streets so that Modi’s nefarious designs could be fully exposed. Only the sustained street protests – on the lines of India’s freedom struggle – can save Indians from Modi’s cruelty.
Earlier, Vijayan Pinarayi of Kerala had become the first Chief Minister to sit on dharna to protect the people from the Modi government’s anti-people demonetization policy.
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she would stage a dharna in Delhi on Wednesday and appealed to other opposition parties to take to streets to protest the move.
[ Demonetization Deaths: Communist Party Demands Obituary in Parliament ]
“I will stage a protest at Jantar Mantar at 1230 hrs and I appeal to other (opposition) parties to register their protests on the roads on demonetization which has caused hardship to the common people,” Mamata Banerjee said.
She also attacked Modi for “failing” to bring back black money from abroad. “BJP (Modi’s party) will be nowhere after the elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,” she said.
In her Parliament speech, another political leader Mayawati also said that Modi and his party BJP will pay a heavy price for the imposition of ‘Financial Emergency’ in the country. She said that BJP will lose the upcoming assembly elections in five states and also the Lok Sabha election of 2019.
According to Mamata Banerjee, the Narendra Modi government is taking away the hard earned money of the common people. She added that her party Trinamool Congress would hit the streets in Kolkata against demonetization on Wednesday when she will be in Delhi.
[ Demonetization May Ring Death Knell for Narendra Modi ]
Mamata Banerjee had also said on Monday that she would address a protest meeting in Lucknow on November 29 and also go to Bihar and Punjab to campaign against Modi’s policies.
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 Modi government because the decision to stop the circulation of currency is causing severe hardships to commoners.
This war-like situation is causing deaths of innocent people who keep standing in queues even in harsh weather with the hope to get their old currency exchanged from banks.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a government award-winning journalist and social scientist. You also can visit the REAL VOTER – Politics in India Information Center that he manages.
Photo courtesy: All India Trinamool Congress
