Mamata Banerjee asks PM to take note: It's people's revolt

Kolkata: Elated by Trinamul Congress’ massive victory in the Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in the state, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the election result was “people’s revolt” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation. ‘The people have revolted and voted against demonetisation. In a democracy, people vent their anger through votes. BJP should take lessons from this mandate,” Ms Banerjee said at Nabanna before leaving for the airport to catch a flight to Delhi.

The CM is working to unite opposition parties against the Centre’s “anti-people policies”. “Let there be a storm of public protest against the Hitleri decision which has caused immense miseries to the common people,” she said.

Talking to reporters at the airport, she said she would stage a dharna in Delhi and appealed to other parties to take to the streets in  protest. “Trinamul Congress will hit the streets  from Tuesday. I  will join a dharna at Jantar Mantar. While I will be in Delhi, our party will launch a  protest movement in Kolkata. On Thursday, there will be rallies across the districts while the following day will see rallies at the block-level,” she said, and appealed to the cultural, literary, agricultural and  business sector, including hawkers, to join the movement against demonetisation. “These people should also come forward to lodge their protest as the issue (of demonetisation) concerns everyone,” she added. Asked whether other parties will join her, she said,  “If any party wants to come, they are welcome. In Parliament, we are all working together.”

Continuing her tirade against Mr Modi, Ms Banerjee alleged that the PM is snatching away white money from the common people. “He should recover black  money from the offshore accounts. But he is instead harassing the common people and snatching their white money,” she said.

Ms Banerjee also alleged that the Prime Minister is constantly “intimidating” other political parties who are raising their voice against demonetisation.

“A Prime Minister should be sober,  impartial and should not exercise any bias. Can a Prime Minister intimidate others?” she asked.

The CM also appealed to NGOs, charitable organisations, student organisations,  representatives of the civil society and others to register their protest through her twitter page.

On Monday night, Ms Banerjee had posted on her twitter account that 68 lives had been lost since the announcement on November 8. She also provided a link to a list of those deceased, three of whom belong to West Bengal while Uttar Pradesh saw maximum deaths with as many as 18 people.