Congress to protest note ban Saturday

New Delhi: In an attempt to keep up the steam in the anti-demonetisation drive, the Delhi Congress unit announced that it will stage protests across Delhi on Saturday as part of a pan-India stir against demonetisation and will seek answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the amount of black money unearthed.

Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said people were waiting for the Prime Minister to give details of the black money unearthed due to the massive exercise during his address to the nation on New Year Eve, but he “kept mum”.

She claimed 115 people died during the 50 days Modi had sought to stabilise the situation his sudden announcement on November 8 to demonetise high-value bank notes had triggered.

People expected Mr Modi to announce compensation to affected families, but he “did not mention” them in his address, said Ms Mukherjee. She also repeated Rahul Gandhi’s charges that Mr Modi as the Gujarat chief minister had taken money from Sahara and Birla groups.

“Mr Modi has not yet replied to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s poser about receiving Rs 65 crore from Aditya Birla Group and Sahara Group in a blatant case of corruption,” she said.

During the protests in all the 14 districts in Delhi, party leaders and workers will seek answers on the questions and demand disclosure of the amount of black money unearthed, 20 per cent bonus on minimum support price to farmers, disclosure of names of people who deposited Rs 25 lakh or more prior to demonetisation.

She said it was “very strange” that during demonetisation BJP leaders were caught with large amount of old and new currency notes, and chanrged that they had “prior information” of the government’s move.

“BJP leaders had knowledge about demonetisation beforehand and that’s why crores of rupees were invested in land and property by RSS and BJP leaders in Bengal, Orissa and Bihar,” she alleged.