Patna: The ruling Janata Dal United (JD-U) in Bihar headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar is under severe pressure to change its stance on the central government’s currency ban.
The JD-U is one of the few opposition parties in India which has lent its full support to the currency ban imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With resentment still gripping the common man — in view of the prevailing severe cash crisis for the past over a month — the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the JD-U’s alliance partner, has already taken a lead by announcing its protest programme over the issue.
The “shift” in the JD-U’s stand on the currency ban was clearly visible on Sunday when the party attacked the Narendra Modi government over the continuing cash crisis, describing it as a “sinister plot” designed to benefit “corporate friends”.
“The term surgical strike on black money has been used as an ‘idiom’. The BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) has used the move to convert large amounts of black money into white by purchasing land, help corporate friends and promote China-funded PayTM,” JD-U’s spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad told a Press conference on Sunday.
The development came after the RJD headed by Lalu Prasad announced an intensive protest programme against the currency ban from December 20 followed by a massive rally in Patna sometime later.
RJD is an alliance partner of the ruling JD-U.
Barely a day back, the RJD chief had raised the similar issue saying “PayTM will benefit China and foreign nations”.
“This fact should be exposed as BJP has long been opposing China,” Prasad had demanded while announcing protest programme on Saturday after holding a meeting with party leaders.
What has apparently prompted the JD-U to change its stand is the apprehension that the constant disregard of the problems being faced by the common man could draw the ire of the suffering masses and could ultimately destroy their vote-bank.
Most of the opposition parties, such as the Congress and the Trinamool Congress led by Miss Mamata Banerjee, are already protesting the note ban and now JD-U, perhaps, doesn’t want to be left behind anymore and also face the accusation of “going near the BJP”.
The JD-U faced severe embarrassment when a RJD lawmaker Bhai Birendra, considered close to Lalu Prasad, subtly warned the chief minister against sailing on two boats saying “such situation ultimately leads to disaster”.
The JD-U has so far stayed away from every protest staged by the opposition parties over currency ban. The party didn’t join the nation-wide shutdown called by the opposition parties as well the sit-in programme staged by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Patna last month.
