Opposition protest, confusion runs supreme

Amidst utter confusion, whether there is call for a 'Bharat Bandh' or 'Jan Aakrosh Divas', Opposition parties on Monday hit the streets across the country to protest against scrapping of high-value notes. While the Congress said that there is no call for a strike and call was only for protests, the Left parties enforced a 12-hour bandh in West Bengal. It was, however, not supported by the ruling Trinamool Congress which is most vocal against the note ban. Taking advantage of confusion, the ruling BJP members also hit the markets, launching 'Jan Abhaar Divas' – a day to express gratitude to people for ignoring strike. At many places, they offered sweets and flowers to traders, who had not closed shutters. Further Nitish Kumar's abstention robbed the 'nationwide protests' its strength.

The state-wide 12-hour strike called by the Left parties to protest demonetization failed to evoke much response in West Bengal. It evoked a partial response in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In Bihar workers of RJD, Congress and Left parties disrupted train services at many places, but offices and schools registered normal attendance. In Kerala, the shutdown called by Kerala's ruling LDF on Monday was total. The protest affected the functioning of both the Houses of Karnataka Legislature, but the state remained normal.

In Delhi, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad clarified that the Opposition parties had never called for any strike, as it would have caused inconvenience to people. "We had called for Jan Akrosh Divas and not Bharat Bandh," he said. He claimed that lakhs of angry and anguished people participated in the protests. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to demonstrate outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence against demonetization, vowing to dislodge him from the seat of power if the scrapping of high value currency notes is not withdrawn. "The entire country is suffering. There is no money in banks, ATMS. So far 80 people have died due to the hardships caused by demonetization. But Narendra Modi is having a sound sleep and giving lectures on taking the country towards cashless economy," she told a rally in Kolkata.

Congress party chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told a press conference that the ruling alliance was not able to fathom the pain and anger of 125 crore. More than 20,000 beating 'thalis' thronged a march organised by Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken in the evening from the Mandi House to Jantar Mantar. Surjewala released a list of rules and directives on demonetization changed 105 times in the last 19 days to point out how the entire country has left the country confused.

He said entire informal sector comprising of 90% of India is in deep distress. There are only 2.4 crore credit card holders and 9 crore debit card holders in and many these are held in multiples by one person. As per the RBI figures of June, 2016, there were 48 crore transactions worth Rs2293 crore through these cards. While mobile wallets have grown by 500%, after the demonetization, the amount transacted has been only Rs11,000 crore, a miniscule figure compared to the cash withdrawn, Surjiwala said.

In support

Notwithstanding, the Opposition protests, Nandan Nilekani, who was head of previous UPA government's Aadhaar project, supported the government's ban on high-value notes. He said while the credit for creating the Aadhaar system goes to the UPA government, Dr Manmohan Singh, he was grateful to PM Modi for taking it forward. "A lot will depend on the next three months. If they accelerate digitization... long-term, it will be a very good development," he said.