Meeting the President for the third time since demonetisation was announced, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs accused the NDA government of having imposed a “super emergency” and engaging in “vendetta politics”.
A senior party leader told The Hindu that the current part of the party’s programme against demonetisation had concluded with the meet, and that the next would be announced shortly.
Speaking to reporters after marching from South Avenue to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the MPs also held Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the death of 120 people, allegedly caused by the move, and sought President Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention.
A senior police officer said that additional police force had been deployed outside 7 RCR as a “precautionary measure” in case the TMC members decided to divert their march towards the PM’s residence.
Scores of policemen, empty buses and barricades warning about Section 144 being imposed there marked the space outside 7 RCR. “After outlining the grim situation, we first called this (demonetisation) a financial emergency. Today, we believe this is a super emergency,” said TMC MP Derek O’Brien.
Memorandum submitted
The 30-member delegation, comprising MPs Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Dola Sen, Mukul Roy, Dinesh Trivedi, Arpita Ghosh, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sisir Adhikari, among others, also submitted a memorandum to the President.
‘Vendetta politics’
The TMC memorandum has accused the Modi government of engaging in “politics of vendetta” to conceal its own “incompetence and inefficiency” by arresting two of its party MPs. “The government is blatantly misusing power and using agencies to stifle opposition. This deplorable policy dishonours the sacred principles of our Constitutional democracy,” it said.
The delegation also accused the Centre of “deceiving and ambushing” its own citizens since the “draconian” exercise was announced. “The TMC has opposed the move. The timing of what is happening is political vendetta. This is low life, the kind of political vendetta this country has never seen,” he said referring to the arrest of TMC MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam.
Seeking to pick holes in Mr. Modi’s announcement that people’s problems would ease in the next 50 days, Mr. O’Brien said that the situation had instead “worsened”. He claimed that micro and small scale industries had reported 35 per cent job losses and listed fishermen, farmers, plantation workers, housewives, students and traders among those worst affected.
“There have been 120 deaths. We hold the Prime Minister accountable,” Mr. O’Brien said. Referring to the arrest of Mr. Bandyopadhyay and Mr. Pal, Mr. O’Brien accused the Modi government of “hounding” party leaders and asserted that the TMC was “not scared” of the BJP’s “dirty tricks”.
-With inputs from Shiv Sunny
