Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that she will protest against the demonetisation move on the streets of Delhi on Wednesday.
“I am going to Delhi tomorrow. I will be on the road on Wednesday. If we get invitation, we will also join the protest programme of other parties on November 23. I also request everybody to join our programme, as this is a big fight,” Mamata told media.
The Trinamool Congress supremo said she would address a rally in Lucknow on November 29.
“I will address one or two meetings in Bihar also on December 1 and 2. I will also go to Punjab to speak on behalf of the common man,” she said.
“Till the time people don’t get justice, my movement will continue,” Mamata said.
She said Trinamool units in West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur and Assam will organise their own protests.
Mamata has been at the forefront of the protests against the Narendra Modi government’s decision to scrap Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes.
She last Wednesday called on President Pranab Mukherjee, along with leaders of three other parties — AAM Admi Party, Shiv Sena and the National Conference — seeking his intervention in the issue.
A day later, she addressed a meeting at Azadpur Mandi, the biggest vegetable and fruits wholesale hub in Delhi, jointly with Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, giving a 72-hour deadline to the central government to rollback demonetisation.
On Saturday, Mamata marched to the Reserve Bank of India office here, called its officials on the road and sought information on the currency situation in the state.
The Trinamool has also announced a three-day protest programme in the state beginning Tuesday, when the party would take out a rally in the city. Rallies would be held at the district headquarters and every block of the state for the next two days.
Mamata said already three parties have joined her protests.
“I am not alone. Three parties are with me. If anybody wants to join us, it’s good. But if we have to go it alone, we are OK with that also. But I think everybody [all opposition parties at the national level] will eventually come together.”
The Trinamool leader said she has already discussed the matter with Kejriwal.
Asked whether she would have liked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to join her, Mamata replied: “If he joins me, that’ll be great.”
Meanwhile, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of acting on his whims and fancies, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said on Monday: “We will have to find a new word to define him.”
“Why Modiji is opposed to come to Parliament? He is at another level now,” Gandhi asked journalists outside Parliament after earlier interacting with people queuing up at an ATM in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area.
“He does not consult his ministers and takes decisions according to his whims and fancies,” Gandhi said.
Opposition parties, including Congress and Trinamool Congress, created pandemonium in the Lok Sabha on Monday over the demonetisation move, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House twice in the pre-noon session till 2pm.
As soon as the House met in the morning, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was joined by the entire House to pay condolences for the deaths in the train tragedy.
Soon after, Trinamool Congress member Sudip Bandopadhyay urged the Speaker to accept an adjournment motion to discuss the demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, announced by the government on November 8, but she refused.
The TMC and the Congress members rushed towards the Speaker’s podium and began shouting slogans against the government.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar requested the agitating members to allow the House to run, but they didn’t relent.
