Opposition political parties in Goa, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, on Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a "sham" speech with Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, accusing Modi of shedding crocodile tears.
"Modi's tears appear to be crocodile tears... his action is like third degree treatment meted out to innocent citizens," Naik told the media at the Congress state headquarters here.
In the course of his speech in Goa on Sunday, Modi appeared to be on the verge of breaking down while referring to sacrifices he had made for the country.
The video of Modi's discomfort during his speech went viral on social media.
"The demonetisation action was clandestinely disclosed by Modi to the Bharatiya Janata Party President, his key party people and industrialists close to the power centre, in advance, so that they could make necessary arrangements to legalise their funds," Naik said as he demanded a probe by the Supreme Court into the demonetising decision-making process.
Naik also said Modi had let the people of India down by virtually giving overt threats from foreign soil in Japan, about tightening up the fiscal processes.
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"The threats given by Modi on a foreign soil indicates that he is going to take more stringent steps in future. This is dangerous and it appears that Modi is marching towards imposing fascism in the country," Naik said.
The AAP also said the Prime Minister's speech had more theatrics than substance and that Modi had also mocked the people lining up at banks and ATMs.
"The speech of the Prime Minister in Goa yesterday (Sunday) was mere theatrics and devoid of any serious intent to embark on a correction of the financial chaos unleashed by his unplanned demonetisation scheme," AAP spokesperson Valmiki Naik said.
"Every citizen of India has been autocratically forced into a state of financial emergency, helpless to even meet his or her daily needs to run a house... AAP is shocked that Modi, instead of taking corrective action, is mocking the people lining up at banks and ATMs," he said.
--IANS
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