New Delhi/Ghazipur, Nov 23: A united Opposition Wednesday protested against demonetisation outside Parliament as Mamata Banerjee hit the streets of Delhi once again demanding the Prime Minister’s ouster as “country was not safe in his hands”, but the government ruled out revoking the exercise, declaring rolling back something is “not in Modi’s blood”.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who had taken up cudgels against Modi on the issue, termed demonetisation of high-value currency notes as the world’s “biggest impromptu financial experiment” about which even the Finance Minister and the Chief Economic Adviser were clueless before the announcement was made.
He reaffirmed the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into alleged leak of demonetization decision prior to its announcement by Modi, and participation of the Prime Minister in a debate on the exercise. Opposition MPs including those of Congress, SP, BSP, TMC, DMK, CPI, CPI (M) and some others staged a demonstration near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue outside Parliament.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party had taken the lead in uniting the opposition against the government on the issue, was in Delhi again after a gap of a few days and led a protest by four other parties at Jantar Mantar where she gave a call for Modi’s ouster. “This government will have to go…I am sorry to say, the country is not secure under you Modiji. You do things at your whims and fancies,” she said, addressing the gathering.
Flanked by leaders of SP, JD-U, NCP and AAP, Banerjee alleged the BJP dispensation had lost its “credentials and credibility” because of the currency crisis.
As nearly 200 opposition MPs staged protest outside Parliament where Rahul said, “What the PM has done is the biggest impromptu financial experiment in the world. He did not ask anyone. Finance Minister did not know. The Chief Economic Adviser did not know. This decision is not that of Finance Minister. This is the Prime Minister’s decision. “Prime Minister can give lectures at pop concert where ‘naach gaana’ is going on. 200 MPs are saying they want to tell the nation why he took this decision. PM does not want to come to Parliament. Why is PM afraid of going inside? He is obviously anxious about something,” Gandhi said.
Unfazed by the protests and continued stalling of Parliament, government rejected outright the possibility of withdrawing the exercise midway. “Wapas lena Modi ji ke khoon mein nahi hai (Roll back is not in Modiji’s blood,” Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu asserted.