TMC leaders attend, Mamata Banerjee skips demonetisation protest rally

Top Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders from West Bengal on Saturday assembled at the district board ground in Dhanbad to hold a protest rally against the Centre move to demonetise high-value banknotes and garner support of opposition parties in Jharkhand.

Though it was widely published by TMC functionaries in the state party chief Mamata Banerjee will be attending the protest rally that drew hundreds of supporters, Mamata Banerjee was conspicuous by her absence.

West Bengal law minister Moloy Ghatak, who presided over the function said since ‘Didi’ had prescheduled programme at another location, she did not attend the rally.

“Demonetisation is not a political issue but we are fighting for the rights of the common man who were facing problems despite having money are not in being able to get medicines and food,” said Ghatak.

“Our fight against demonetisation will continue until it is withdrawn by the Centre,” he said.

He further said that the BJP used huge amount of black money to purchase huge tracts of land in Bihar and other states just before the announcement of demonetisation.

The BJP also deposited more than Rs 350 crore in the party bank accounts. The Prime Minister must clear from where the money came to purchase the land and the bank deposits, he said.

TMC Rajya Sabha member and former railway minister Mukul Roy, who also addressed the rally, said “It is ‘bure din’ (bad days) for the common man.”

“In the last 32 months, the Modi government has just cheated people. There have been major cuts in important developmental projects by the government, especially those that were aimed at poverty elimination,” he said.

“The Centre is using the army to intimidate TMC leaders and its main focus is to eliminate our chief minister. We have been fighting against the BJP and will continue to fight and expose the evil designs of the Modi government against us.”

Though leaders from the JVM, RJD and JMM were present at the rally, the Congress abstained from sharing the dais with the TMC leaders.

Congress district president Brajendra Prasad Singh told Hindustan Times that state party chief Sukhdeo Bhagat advised party workers not to participate in the rally.