Kanpur, Dec 19 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attacked the opposition parties for stalling Parliament and accused them of running away from a debate on demonetisation to "safeguard the corrupt".

"They didn't allow Parliament to function as they were not ready to debate demonetisation," Modi told a rally here ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year.

Virtually the entire winter session of Parliament was washed out over the government's November 8 decision of scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to curb black money, corruption and terror funding.

"Even after the President (Pranab Mukherjee) urged them not to disrupt the Parliament, they didn't listen to his advise," Modi thundered.

"They did this because they were running away from the debate over demonetisation."

Lashing out at the opposition leaders, Modi said: "They even threw torn papers at the Speaker to halt Parliament proceedings.

"They did all this to safeguard the corrupt when the government was busy catching the corrupt," the Prime Minister said.