Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje / Johnas Sequiera
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)
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Mangaluru, Nov 28: In response to the nationwide call for 'Aakrosh Diwas' sounded by Congress against the central government over demonetisation, the Mangaluru city block Congress committee organised held a protest near Gandhi statue in front of the MCC here on November 28. Simultaneously, Congress also held another protest near Town Hall.
Slogans were raised by the protesters against the BJP-led union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing the gathering, mayor K Harinath said, "Congress never called for a bandh, it was only an 'Aakrosh Diwas' to protest against demonetisation. But in the media it was projected as a bandh. The BJP is trying to create an impression that people have not supported the bandh when in fact it is only Akrosh Diwas. The Congress party has never done anything which will affect the common man or the poor. Congress stands by the poor and the marginalized sections of society.
"After announcing demonetisation, the Prime Minister went to Japan and cracked a joke saying he has made black money holders stand on queues. But in reality he made the poor people stand in queues. The Congress party opposes any decision which is not in the interest of the poor of this country. Due to the unplanned decision by the Prime Minister, general public are put to hardship. We oppose this," he said.
Congress spokesperson and corporator Vinayraj said, "The Modi-led BJP government came to power promising that it would get back the black money which is stashed abroad. Every child in the country knows that black money is stashed abroad. People believed Modi and voted him to power with the hope that he would get back the black money.
"But when he could not fulfill his promise, in order to divert the minds of the people, he unilaterally took the decision to demonetise the high denomination currency which has put the poor and the general public into trouble. Many youngsters have lost their jobs. Poor people have to stand in long queues for their own money. The Modi government is pro-capitalist, all the friends of BJP have crores of new currencies already exchanged. It is only the general public who are in queues."
About 80 people have lost their lives due to the demonetisation and none of them is a black money holder. People are committing suicide as they are unable to hold weddings due to cash crunch. The situation is going worse day by day. The Prime Minister is saying that people should sacrifice their lives for the country. We demand that the union government should give one crore compensation to the families of people who have died due to demonetisation and they should be declared as martyrs who have lost their lives for the country."
Congress leaders T K Sudhir, Ramananda Poojary, Vishwas Das, corporators Ashok D K, Sabitha Misquith, Youth Congress leader Prithvi Poojary and others were present at the protest in front of MCC, while the protest near Town Hall was led by district Congress interim president Ibrahim Kodijal and MLC Ivan D'Souza.
Addressing the protest near Town Hall, Ivan D'Souza said, "Demonetisation has not affected the people who have black money, instead it has affected the poor and the labour class of the society. People who were hoarding black money have already invested it in gold, property and bullion.
"We not against demonetisation but we are against the way it has been implemented. The government has not taken adequate measures before implementing it. Let them announce the amount of black money already deposited.
"When people are losing their lives due to demonetisation, the BJP and the Sangha Parivar are celebrating. They need to understand what they are celebrating for. Farmers are unable to pay their loans, thus we demand that the central government give them a loan waiver," Ivan said.
Meanwhile, left-wing parties and organizations namely CITU and CPI(M) also held protests against demonetisation in different parts of the city.