Patna: Angry protests marked the first anniversary of note ban in Bihar with opposition parties taking to the streets and protesting the “anti-people” move of Naredra Modi government.

In Patna, as many as six opposition parties came together to launch scathing attack on the Modi government for “bringing untold miseries to poor class people” through this move.

Led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) headed by Lalu Prasad, the opposition parties took out a protest rally in Patna, staged angry protests and walked into the office of the local district magistrate after breaking two barricades, reports said.

“Demonetisation served no purposes; instead it provided opportunity to a section of people to convert their black money into white with greater ease. The poor were fooled into believing that it was a step keeping their interests in mind,” Prasad told the media on Wednesday, denouncing the note ban. Prasad led his party demonstration in Vaishali district.

He said the demonetisation exercise was the merely the satisfaction of a man’s ego that killed more than 150 people.

Further, he mocked the NDA move to celebrate “anti-black money day” in commemoration of the first anniversary of demonetisation.

“[BJP chief] Amit Shah’s income increased 300 and his son’s 16,000 times. That’s the ultimate achievement of demonetisation,” mocked Prasad.

He alleged that hundreds of thousands of people had been left unemployed owing to the closure of many industries while the rural economy had been completely destroyed as a result of demonetisation which the ruling coalition was celebrating.

“They are totally unaware about its impact. This one miscalculated step will go a long way in ensuring their ouster from power,” he warned.

His son and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav launched even more vituperative attacks on the government.

“Demonetisation turned out to be government-aided and [a] lovely scheme for the corrupt. Failing to check illegal currency change, the government itself did the same later,” alleged Tejashwi, adding that millions of poor and middle-class people had lost their livelihood and jobs. Small-scale industries also suffered.

Hitting out further, he said demonetisation was not just case of poor implementation but “corrupt and [of] malicious design. [The] BJP bought land worth millions nationwide to settle its own black money”.