Demonetization Deaths: Communist Party Demands Obituary in Parliament

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.

By Rakesh Raman

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) informs that more than 70 people have already died as a result of the demonetization decision taken by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

In a message today, the CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury has demanded that an obituary reference should be made in Parliament for the innocent people who lost their lives.

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.

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.

[ Modi’s Monarchy: Banks in India Refuse to Pay People’s Money ]

Congress warns that the situation will worsen in the coming days. The party estimates that the demonetisation has led to the withdrawal of 2,100 crore notes. But India’s mints can print only 300 crore notes monthly. At this pace, according to Congress, it will take 7 months to restore the currency supply chain.

RMN Popularity Poll

Meanwhile, Modi’s popularity is severely damaged in India. In an ongoing RMN Poll launched on November 13, Modi got only 10% votes as compared to Baba Ramdev’s 13%, Priyanka Gandhi’s 13%, and Mayawat’s 12% in a list of 10 candidates. You can vote and check out the poll results so far.

Congress reveals that there are 134,000 branches of banks in the country and 215,000 ATMs, but only about 40% of them are working, as banks don’t have enough cash and ATMs are not configured to deliver new notes. “Clearly, India didn’t have the capacity to implement Modi’s decision,” Congress said in a statement released today.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who meets common people standing in bank queues, said that only Modi’s rich cronies will benefit with his demonetization decision while poor people will suffer.

Last week, Vijayan Pinarayi of Kerala had become the first chief minister to sit on dharna to protect people from Modi’s demonetization policy.

In her Parliament speech, another political leader Mayawati 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.

Although the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headed by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has a very weak voice in the Indian political arena, it has planned a protest march against demonetization. A local AAP leader Manish Sisodia will lead the march in Delhi on Tuesday.

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: CPI (M), Congress