Lucknow: The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has now started facing the ire of the people on the issue of demonetisation, after garneering support for the bold move.
According to reports, BJP spokesman Sambit Patra recently faced an angry mob in Varanasi during a programme held by a leading news channel on the impact of demonetisation in views of the upcoming Assembly elections.
As soon as BJP spokesman Sambit Patra started explaining the “benefits” of demonetisation, the audience began disrupting his speech.
Mr Patra said that the pain of demonetisation was similar to the mythological “samudra manthan” that initially caused pain to the gods and demons but later yielded the nectar of life (amrit).
This apparently further angered the crowds and a scuffle broke out in which chairs were flung around.
Mr Patra, who appeared visibly nervous and defensive, made several pleas to the audience to remain calm and even reminded them that Varanasi was a religious place, besides being the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, but to no avail.
The programme had to be abruptly called off and the police was called in.
BJP leaders claimed that the disruptions were caused by Samajwadi supporters and the Samajwadi spokesman Mohd Shahid vehemently denied the charge.
“The BJP should understand ground realities. People are angry and reacting and the BJP should do some introspection instead of blaming the opposition for all that goes wrong. We had nothing to do with this incident. This is just the beginning and they will see the mood of the people when they start campaigning,” he said.
