Chennai: Days after joining the Opposition’ protest against demonetisation, Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK on Sunday tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of “slighting the Constitution and democracy” by speaking about the issue outside Parliament not inside the House.
In an article published in party mouthpiece Namadhu MGR, the AIADMK listed the volte-face of the RBI and the Finance Ministry, which kept revising the rules and regulations on demonetisation after its announcement on November 8, and punched holes into the BJP’s fight against black money.
“The Prime Minister who is supposed to answer such questions is slighting the Constitution and democracy by choosing to explain about the move only outside Parliament and not inside the Parliament (where Opposition parties want the PM to speak),” the article in the AIADMK mouthpiece said. Both Houses of Parliament had been paralysed for more than a week demanding that Prime Minister sit through the entire debate on demonetisation and make a statement on the issue.
The stinging criticism of the Prime Minister comes days after the AIADMK joined the Opposition protest that was spearheaded by Congress and attended by arch-rival DMK against demonetisation in the Parliament House.
The AIADMK, which has 13 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, has been bailing out the BJP Government in the House of Elders for the past two years and the Tamil Nadu’s ruling party joining hands with leaders of Opposition parties, including the Congress, had raised many an eyebrow in state and national political circles.
“The BJP’s claim to root out black money is like cultivation of desert by drawing water using a bucket that has a sieve for its bottom. And isn’t it a reality that people of saffron parties have not shown in action what they speak?” the article said in a stinging criticism of the demonetisation policy.
Questioning the move to allow exchange of old notes into new at Big Bazaar, the article asked why a superstore where only “rich people” shop was selected to allow swapping of notes, while imposing a ban on banking in cooperative banks which is visited by lakhs of hapless farmers every day.
Quoting news reports, the article said common man is “angry” that demonetisation move was “reportedly leaked to many,” and a Gujarati daily had even published beforehand about it and added that people were incensed by norms like an upper limit even for withdrawals for weddings.
The article also referred to other issues like the Indian rupee hitting a record low level against the US dollar (on November 24, it hit an all-time low of 68.86 against the US$ before recovering partially to end the day at 68.73— a 39-month closing low) besides Nepal banning new Indian Rs 500, Rs 2,000 notes and alleged quality issues in the new notes.
