Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today termed demonetisation as a "courageous decision" taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tackle black money, counterfeit currency and terrorism, even as Opposition Congress staged a walkout on the issue.
Replying to an adjournment motion moved by Congress leader Bala Bachchan, who is having temporary charge as the Leader of Opposition, Mukesh Nayak and others on the alleged issue of law and order problems faced by farmers and others due to demonetisation, Chouhan said "It was a courageous decision taken by the Prime Minister to tackle the problem of black money, counterfeit currency and terrorism."
Earlier as the House assembled for the third day of the ongoing Winter Session, Congress demanded discussion on the various adjournment motions they have submitted on the issue and created ruckus during question hour following which it was adjourned for 10 minutes.
Later, when the House again assembled and Congress members continued with their disruption, the Chief Minster said the government is ready for a debate which should be started immediately.
Describing Modi as a Man of Era (Yug Purush), he said, "If someone looks at it with an eye on electoral politics, then he could have never taken such a decision which was not an easy one."
When Chouhan started dwelling on issues raised by Opposition members on farmers woes and highlighted steps like rise in irrigated area from 7.5 lakh hectares to 40 lakh hectares, loan to farmers at zero per cent interest and now the same with a subsidy of 10 per cent among others, the Congress members started interrupting him.
Chouhan claimed that as far as farmers suicide is concerned, their number was higher during Congress regime under Digvijay Singh than the current BJP rule.
The Chief Minister also highlighted that after demonetisation, a total of Rs 26,000 crore in banned currencies were deposited in the banks till November 30.
He also informed that during the same period the banks have disbursed Rs 13,000 crore to people in new and existing currency notes.
At this point, Congress members including Patwari and
Sunderlal Tiwari among others again interrupted Chouhan and said their main issue was not demonetisation but problems faced by farmers because of it following which the Speaker Sitasaran Sharma informed that there are a number of notices given by them and demonetisation was also mentioned in it.
Dissatisfied with the Chair's ruling Congress members rushed to the well of the House and created ruckus before staging a walkout.
Surprised by the Opposition move, Chouhan said, "I strongly condemn their behaviour as they have no courage to face the truth. I haven't seen such a weak Opposition. The Congress members have disrespected Assembly, democracy and people of the state."
Resuming his reply after the Congress walkout, Chouhan said "Decisions taken by his (BJP) government for farmer's welfare were significant when compared to Congress rule for last 60-years."
The black marketing of urea too has been checked after neem-coated fertiliser was made available in the market, he said.
He also informed that the total sown area this year for all crops was 95 lakh hectare as compared to last year's 77.23 lakh hectare.
Chouhan said he was aware that people were facing problems because of demonetisation but it has to be noted that they are still with Modi on the issue in the interest of the country.
