Note ban anniversary: Cong stages protest near RBI office

As part of "Black Day" protests to mark the anniversary of demonetization, the West Bengal state Congress today staged a rally outside the Reserve Bank office here and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come clean on whose interest the decision of note ban was taken.

"It has been one year since this anti-people decision to ban Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes were taken by the government. It was said that it is being done to curb black money and control terrorism. Our question is, has the black money ceased to exist or has terror activities stopped in the Kashmir valley?

"The answer is no. Then, in whose interest was this arbitrary, anti-people decision taken by the Modi government," West Bengal Congress President Adhir Chowdhury said while addressing the rally.

Noting that the country has suffered immensely due to the discontinuation of high value currency notes, Chowdhury demanded that the Prime Minister and the union government should come clean on whose interest was the decision'taken.

"Why was the entire economy sent for a toss? The GDP growth has declined. There have been job cuts. The central government is busy making false promises and lectures. Instead of giving lecture, they should understand the ground reality," he said.

Congress workers raised slogans against the Modi government at the programme where several leaders were present.

The rally in Kolkata today was part of the country-wide protest rallies that Congress along with other opposition parties have planned to take out to observe the first anniversary of demonetization as "black day". PNT JM