Kerala: United, Congress takes on demonetisation

Notwithstanding the factional fault lines making their presence more visible by the day, the Congress on Friday got on to an agitation mode launching state-wide protests in front of central government offices across the state against the demonetisation drive of the NDA government at the centre.

Former chief minister Oommen Chandy, who has not yet showed signs of a climb-down from his stand of staying away from party committee meetings allegedly over his faction being sidelined in the selection of DCC presidents, inaugurated the event at Kozhikode while KPCC president V M Sudheeran launched it in Thrisur.

In Thiruvananthapuram police detained Congress leaders including leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala and Shashi Tharoor, MP, for leading a protest demonstration of hundreds of party workers outside the RBI office. There were minor scuffle during the protest when party workers tried to break the police barricade and enter the office premises.

Mr Sudheeran said in Thrissur that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has betrayed the nation with his demonetisation policy and that he had no right to remain in the post. “The claims of the Mr Modi that the new policy was to trap those dealing with fake notes and black money have fallen flat,” he said. He said the country’s economy was adversely affected due to demonetisation and even President Pranab Mukherjee had echoed it by saying that the policy would result in a temporary financial slowdown.

Mr Chandy, who inaugurated the picketing of head post office in Kozhikode, said the prime minister had no answers for the hard questions related to demonetisation. “He had asked the country to wait for 50 days,” Mr Chandy said. “Those 50 days are over. Now, he is silent on the suffering of the people. How many died waiting in the queues? When will the wait be over?” The picketing, organised after T. Siddique took over as DCC chief, saw a crowd of thousands of Congress workers in Mananchira, a rare scene in the recent history of the party.

Senior Congress leader K. Muraledharan said in Kottayam that the economic situation of the country got shattered through the demonetization initiative. AICC secretary Deepak Babaria, who inaugurated the protest march before the BSNL office in Ernakulam said demonetization was one of the greatest tragedies of the post-Independent India which demolished the country’s economy.