 "Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and other opposition leaders protest to observe a 'Black Day' against demonetisation at Parliament House in New Delhi. Photo: PTI")
Little business might have been transacted in Parliament's ongoing winter session, but the past month has nonetheless been a rather busy one for political leaders. The unending war of words between the Narendra Modi-led central government and a nearly united Opposition seems to have mirrored the unending queues at bank branches and ATM centres during the month.
A month ago, on the evening of November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's televised address to the nation disclosed that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes were being turned into "pieces of worthless paper". Amid cash crunch that ensued across the country following the government's 'demonetisation' move, aimed to crack down on black money, the income-tax law was amended for people to disclose their income and the government to levy tax, surcharge and penalty on the disclosed income.
Meanwhile, the revolution that the government was trying to bring about, in the larger "interest of the nation", was certainly not bloodless. There have been reports of a little less than 100 people dying in queues across the country hoping to lay their hands on their own money sitting safely in their bank accounts.
While Modi asked people to give him 50 days' time to bring normalcy – in a cleaner economic environment – the Opposition was in no mood to allow him the comfort on the surety of this statement; they wanted him to take questions in Parliament and answer those satisfactorily.
The move was aimed at ending corruption and counterfeiting, but as the month progressed, the narrative seemed to have meandered towards the government's other goals – war against terror, digitisation and cashless economy, among other things.
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Under fire from all quarters, the government announced a number of sops to woo people and encourage them to go cashless. But, with a vast majority still relying on cash for payments, this appeared a tough battle for the government.
The pressing need to discuss the many important Bills lined up for the Winter Session of Parliament seemed to have been muted by the war of words between the government and the Opposition. And, with Modi accusing the Opposition of not standing against black money, it spiralled into protests, with nationwide calls for 'Bharat Bandh' and 'Black Day'.
Leading the charge from the Opposition was Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who time and again hit out at Modi, asking him for a reply in the Lok Sabha. From calling demonetisation a foolish decision – rather than a bold one – to claiming to shake the earth with his speech, Gandhi came across as the most scathing voice against the government's move.
"Demonetisation is the biggest scam in Indian history. I will expose it in the House but the government is not allowing me to speak. The government is running away from debate. If they allow me to speak, you will see an earthquake," Gandhi said on Friday.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition’s charge was led by former prime minister, Manmohan Singh, who is also an economist. In a short and crisp speech, he hit out at the government by listing the consequences of the demonetisation move and called it an organised loot and legalised plunder.
"The GDP of the country can decline by about two percentage points as a result of what has been done. This is an underestimate. I feel the PM must come with some constructive proposal on how we can implement this scheme and at the same time prevent the distress to the common people," Singh had said in Rajya Sabha.
Chinks also appeared in the Opposition’s armour, with some prominent voices like that of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar first, and his party the Janata Dal (United) later, refusing to criticise demonetisation itself, even as they were critical of the implementation of the move. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Biju Janata Dal also took a similar stand on the issue.
In the Opposition camp, there also seemed to be a confusion over whether to debate or demand a rollback of demonetisation. While a section persisted that there should be a debate with voting, the other demanded a complete rollback of the decision. The Congress, which earlier demanded a rollback of the move, is now challenging the government for a debate in the Lok Sabha.
With the Opposition firm on its demand for a discussion on demonetisation in the prime minister’s presence, the Lok Sabha remained stalled for a large part since November 16. But as Modi was consistently unwilling to oblige, there were repeated adjournments amid uproar.
One major vocal force on the Opposition’s side, meanwhile, was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, the Trinamool Congress. Banerjee took to the streets of Delhi, Lucknow and Patna, demanding a rollback of the demonetisation decision. Backing her demand was the Aam Aadmi Party, with its convenor Arvind Kejriwal sharing the stage with Banerjee and AAP leaders also marching to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to apprise President Pranab Mukherjee of the consequences of the decision.
"The government is acting like a salesman. They have started selling products. They have started selling plastic cards. This is a desperate attempt to divert from the main issues. They are making more than a blunder a day," Banerjee said.
The Opposition also accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of sharing the information an impending demonetisation of high-value currency notes with some of its members and some corporate friends of the prime minister even before the move was announced. The BJP and its leaders were accused of having invested their so-called black money in land parcels across various parts of the country right before the demonetisation move. The government, however, maintained that complete secrecy had been maintained in the run-up to the demonetisation decision.
The Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) continue to press for a debate on the issue in Parliament.
