West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the BJP had bought large tracts of land in various parts of the state in the months ahead of the demonetisation announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded a probe by the Chief Justice of India or some other sitting Supreme Court judge in the land assets purchased by the party during the period.
"If I raise an ethical question, how did you come to know about it (demonetisation)? How did the BJP get to know in advance that the notes will be demonetised? They knew it and so purchased land.
"How did you buy so much land during this brief period? Why has so much land been brought? Whose money is that? There is stamp duty of Bengal. They have bought in Bengal also. How did you buy so much land in October? How did you buy it in September?" Banerjee said during a discussion on demonetisation in the state assembly.
Banerjee waved papers, claiming they were title deeds of lands bought by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state in recent times.
"They purchased land in Baruipur (of South 24 Parganas district), Dum Dum-Belghoria expressway (in North 24 Parganas district), and also in Memari (of Burdwan district) They have purchased so much land. What will they do with so much land?" she asked.
Banerjee demanded the BJP spell out how much land it has bought across India including Bengal, and called it a "big, big scam".
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"How much land have they purchased throughout the country? From where did this money come? How did they purchase so much land one month before this (demonetisation) happened?"
Banerjee said there should be a countrywide probe on the issue.
"There should be a countrywide probe, and this probe should be done by the Chief Justice of India or by some other active justice of the Supreme Court," she said.
Mocking BJP chief Amit Shah, she said "the land has been purchased with the address of Ashoka Road (BJP headquarters), in the ruse of setting up their party offices, in the name of their national president. Who is he? It seems as if he is buying some presidential estate!!"
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the demonetisation issue, Banerjee on Monday called upon opposition parties to shun politics and join hands against the Centre.
She said Modi was "not qualified" to be the Prime Minister.
"Demonetisation decision has been taken without planning. Common people are facing huge problems. Undeclared financial emergency has been imposed on the country.
"In 21 days they have modified their decision 21 times. Can you believe it? They have no idea what to do. The Centre is treating people like guinea pigs," said Banerjee.
She also flayed Modi over the mobile payments entity Paytm's advertisement that featured him.
"The Prime Minister is busy doing advertisement for Paytm. Have you ever seen a Prime Minister endorse private companies?
"The Prime Minister talks of cashless banking without even creating the infrastructure. He is trying to forcefully enforce cashless economy.
"Has Modi bothered to see the darkness beneath the lamp? Modi does not have the qualification to be the Prime Minister," she said.
Elaborating on the sufferings of the common people including daily wagers and farmers, she called upon the opposition parties to join the fight against the Centre.
"If the situation is not addressed, there will be food crisis. We are against black money and black marketing, but we can't support the process adopted by the Centre.
"This is not the time for politics. We must fight unitedly in this time of crisis," said Banerjee who has held public rallies in several states against demonetisation and also petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee demanding a rollback of the move.
--IANS
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