Clash over cash: West Bengal Assembly divided over note ban resolution

Kolkata: Amid opposition by the Congress and Left Front, the West Bengal Assembly Wednesday passed a resolution denouncing the decision of demonetisation by the Central government.

The ruling TMC on Monday had brought in a government resolution under Rule 169 to discuss the issue of demonetisation moved by parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee and the discussion continued till Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the House was adjourned for the day following Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha’s death.

“An unprecedented situation has evolved due to the directionless leadership of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. We condemn it. I don’t support black money,” state finance minister Amit Mitra said while speaking on the motion.

“We all are against black money. But this decision has been taken without any proper planning. It has snapped the entire supply chain.. and is pushing the country towards a recession,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, while speaking on the motion, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had demanded a probe by a Supreme Court judge into the assets bought by the BJP just months before demonetisation was announced. She had also demanded a rollback of the decision.

Even as CPI(M) and Congress had opposed demonetisation, the two parties didn’t support the TMC’s resolution as they were opposed to the call of rollback by the ruling party.

“We couldn’t support the resolution as they had demanded a rollback of the decision. This would lead to a much bigger crisis,” Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan said. Left Front legislative party leader Sujan Chakraborty said those involved in corruption should not talk big about black money.

“We gave amendments but they were not accepted. We are not in favour of rollback. We don’t want people to suffer because of the decision. Those who themselves are corrupt can’t talk big about fighting black money,” he told reporters.