Cong ditches 'Bharat Bandh' for 'Jan Aakrosh' against note ban

New Delhi: Opposition parties protested in various parts of the country against demonetisation on Monday.

DMK workers along with MK Stalin were taken into preventive custody by police in Chennai. In Jammu, Congress workers held a ‘Jan Aakrosh’ rally and were detained by the police.

Rahul Gandhi along with other Congress leaders held a small protest at Gandhi statue outside Parliament.

Left parties, including CPM and CPI, staged a protest in West Bengal capital Kolkata. However, the Left’s call for a bandh saw little public backing in the city as vehicles continued to ply and offices remained open.

Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti however came out in strong support of the Modi government. She said that while demonetisation may cause hardship to the common man for a while, in the long run it would prove to be a historic decision for the country.

Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha saw as many as three adjournments as the Opposition continued to protest over demonetisation, and demanded the presence of PM Narendra Modi in the House.

The demonetisation exercise by the Modi government has brought a rarely seen unity among Opposition parties, but they stand divided over the way they would protest against the measure.

While the Left parties, including the CPI(M) and CPI have called a 12-hour bandh to protest against demonetisation of old high-value currency notes in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's TMC did not join it on Monday.

The Congress too has decided not to go for a bandh.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, on Monday denied that any all-India bandh call had been given by the opposition parties against demonetisation.

“In meeting of 18 opposition parties we decided to hold a ‘Jan Aakrosh’ rally, not a Bharat Bandh, said Azad.

Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he claimed that the saffron party has the maximum amount of black money.

"The maximum amount of black money is with the BJP. Before criticizing other parties, they should introspect first. As far as the Bharat Bandh is concerned, nobody has spoken about a Bharat Bandh. We have not taken any call on or for a Bharat Bandh," said Azad.

Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said no 'Bharat Bandh' has been called by the party which will hold nation-wide protests as part of 'Jan Aakrosh Diwas'.

The JD(U) has decided not to participate in the protests by opposition parties on Monday or West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's proposed dharna in Patna on November 30 after its leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar welcomed the demonetisation decision.

"We have supported he Centre's demonetisation move. How can we oppose or be the part of activity like bandh which is meant to protest the issue which our party has strongly supported," Bihar unit JD(U) President Bashishtha Narayan Singh said.
"JD(U) will not be part of any agitation against demonetisation including the dharna by Mamata Banerjee on November 30 in Patna," party Secretary General K C Tyagi said.

"We have taken an ideological position in favour of demonetisation so how can we be part of any agitation seeking its roll back," Tyagi said.

Odisha's ruling BJD also did not join the protests with its leader and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik having hailed the demonetisation decision.

The opposition parties have been divided over the ways to protest against demonetisation ever since Mamata Banerjee decided to march to the President against it. While she was joined by AAP, National Conference and Shiv Sena, an NDA ally,

Other opposition parties stayed away. Shiv Sena has backed demonetisation but is unhappy over the way it was causing problems to people.

Mamata's TMC and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's AAP are the only parties which have demanded a roll back of the exercise, while other parties have voiced displeasure over the way it was being implemented which was causing hardship to common people.