Amid opposition by the Congress and Left Front, the West Bengal Assembly today passed a resolution denouncing the decision of demonetisation by the central government.
The ruling TMC on Monday brought in a government resolution under Rule 169 to discuss the issue of demonetisation moved by State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee and the discussion continued till today.
Yesterday, the House was adjourned for the day following Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha's death.
"An unprecedented situation has evolved due to the directionless leadership of Narendra Modi. We condemn it. I don't support black money," state Finance Minister Amit Mitra said while speaking on the motion.
"We all are against black money. But this decision of demonetisation has been taken without any proper planning. It has snapped the entire supply chain in the country and is pushing the country towards a recession," Mitra said.
Earlier on Monday, while speaking on the motion, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had demanded a probe by a Supreme Court judge into the assets bought by the BJP just months before demonetisation was announced.
She had also demanded a roll back of the decision.
Even as CPI(M) and Congress had opposed the decision of the demonetisation, the two parties did not support the resolution brought by the TMC as they were opposed to the call of rollback by the party.
"We couldn't support the resolution as they had demanded a rollback of the decision. Roll back of this decision would lead to a much bigger crisis," Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan told reporters.
Left Front Legislative party leader Sujan Chakraborty, said those who themselves are involved in corruption should not talk big about black money.
"We gave amendments but they were not accepted. We are not in favour of roll back of decision. We have reservations over implementation of the decision.
"We wish that people should not suffer because of the decision. Those who themselves are corrupt can't talk big about fighting black money," Chakraborty told reporters.
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However, speaking on the resolution, Chatterjee appealed to both Congress and CPI(M) to support it in order to put up a united face.
"I would appeal to all of you to support the resolution. I want that a united face of opposition should come up against demonetization," he said.
MLA and state BJP President Dilip Ghosh said that those who are opposing demonetisation have a lot of black money stashed.
"Those who have stashed huge amount of black money generated through syndicate (real estate cartel) and chit funds are opposing the decision of demonetization," Ghosh said.
