Mamata Banerjee holds up two new 500-rupee notes, of different colours, at the protest rally in Gardanibagh on Wednesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar
Dev Raj, TT, Patna, Nov. 30: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee today entered the lair of Nitish Kumar and, without taking his name, termed him a gaddar (traitor) for endorsing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation policy.
In her rally against note withdrawal in Patna this afternoon, a day after a similar event in Lucknow, the Trinamul chief thanked the Samajwadi Party and the RJD for their support to her movement, but was unforgiving of the Bihar chief minister.
"We won't comment on those who indulge in gaddari (treachery). Koi gaddari karega, hum uske upar comment nahin karenge, we won't speak about traitors," Mamata said in her 15-minute address at Gardanibagh.
Trinamul sources said Mamata was referring to Nitish as she was "genuinely hurt" by his siding with Modi on the issue. The Sharad Yadav faction of Nitish's party, from which she had initially received some support, had also not shown interest in her Patna rally.
The sources said Nitish, in whom Mamata had seen a strong anti-Modi ally in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, had been warm towards her in recent months until the issue of demonetisation came to the fore.
"She did not expect this U-turn from Nitish, of all people. Nitish was the only person for whom she was willing to give up the leadership role in the front of non-BJP parties that she has been trying to stitch together," said a Trinamul Lok Sabha MP.
"By doing this, she feels, he has betrayed the trust of all those people and political parties, in Bihar and elsewhere, who looked up to him as a foremost anti-Modi figure," he added.
Mamata said it was the duty of political parties to raise their voice against the troubles faced by the common people. "The public respects parties that stand by it. I won't say anything about those who do not stand with the people. But they should know that the opinion of the public is the most important opinion," she told an audience of nearly 7,000 people, mostly from the Bihar capital and adjoining areas.
Trinamul sources said Mamata, who met RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and other family members at his residence last night, was grateful for his support to her movement.
Neither Lalu nor anybody from his family was present at the rally, but he sent RJD state president Ram Chandra Purbey and vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh to the protest show.
In her Hindi speech, citing prominent economists, Mamata attacked Modi for bringing the lives of common people to a halt and vowed to continue her agitation till her demand for a rollback was met by the Centre.
"The economists have predicted slowdown of industry and economy in the country. Only a few celebrity icons are supporting Modi's demonetisation after they were threatened that the CBI and Enforcement Directorate will look into their work and businesses," she said, pointing out that the likes of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Amartya Sen, Raghuram Rajan, Arun Kumar, Jean Dreze, Kaushik Basu and Arun Shourie have criticised demonetisation.
Describing demonetisation as a "super Emergency", Mamata said the financial emergency the Modi government has subjected the country to is the worst form of manmade crises.
"Modi ji goes on world tours. Look at his clothes and his lifestyle. He even brings crowds from outside. But how much black money has been brought back from foreign countries?" she asked.
Unsparing on the lack of preparations by the Centre for demonetisation, Mamata waved two new Rs 500 notes, which were of different colours, and said that government in other countries would have fallen over such lapses.
Dismissing Modi's argument that scrapping of notes will curb black money and alleging selective leak of information to benefit the BJP, Mamata brandished a bundle of what she claimed were land registration papers. Reading out deed numbers of land allegedly purchased by the BJP in Bihar and Bengal before the announcement, Mamata accused Modi of robbing the people of their independence.
"Demonetisation is loss of independence of the country. We achieved it in 1947 after such a huge freedom struggle, but we have lost it again after 69 years. If you snatch roti (bread), kapda (clothes) and makaan (house) from the poor, you have snatched their independence," she said.
"Modi ji, you have tried to blacken the people in the name of curbing black money and hoarded wealth for yourself," she added.
Tearing into Modi for encouraging a cashless economy, Mamata poked fun at the Prime Minister saying children say "the real name of PayTM is PayPM".
She also pointed out while Modi spoke against China at the BRICS Summit in Goa earlier this year, he conveniently ignored that Chinese company Alibaba has a substantial stake in PayTM.
"He is lecturing farmers to use PayTM. I want to ask him who is Alibaba? What is the deal with a mobile company and PayTM, Modi ji?" she asked.
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