Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Friday asserted that rival parties have exposed themselves and shown their true face by criticising the Centre’s demonetisation move which, he said, has rattled those with black money and fake currency and made some political parties poor as well.
Taking a swipe at his rivals, the BJP chief said he would like to ask the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Aam Aadmi Party as to why they are so pained.
Shah said while he understands dealers of black money, fake currency, hawala and drug are rattled what he cannot fathom as to why leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Arvind Kejriwal are joining the list of such people.
I can understand the pain of those keeping black money, fake currency, terrorists, hawala operators, Naxals and drug dealers with this decision. What has amazed me is the way some political parties are rattled.
Even though he insisted that the government’s move had nothing to do with the impending assembly polls, he said BJP will benefit politically going by the reactions of opposition parties.
Assembly polls on his mind, Shah consistently targeted the SP, the BSP and the Congress -- the BJP’s rivals in Uttar Pradesh -- the AAP, its challenger in Punjab besides the Congress, but skipped any mention of Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was the first leader to take on the government. He named her in his reply to a question.
“I can understand the pain of those keeping black money, fake currency, terrorists, hawala operators, Naxals and drug dealers with this decision. What has amazed me is the way some political parties are rattled.
“I want to ask Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP President), the BSP chief, Arvind Kejriwal as to why are you pained? If politics become cleaner with a measure and black money is taken out of electoral politics, then why should it pain political parties,” he said.
He challenged political parties to face the polls with the issue and said, “People will decide.”
These political parties always questioned the Modi government what it was doing against black money and now it has given such a hard blow to black money and they are rattled, he said.
“The kind of environment these political parties are making I want to ask them if you are in support of black money, hawala operators, terrorism, fake currency dealers... SP, BSP, Arvind Kejriwal and Congress should answer this.
“What is the problem of these four parties? They have exposed themselves and shown their true faces,” Shah said.
To a poser that these parties have claimed to have voiced concerns of the poor, he said the demonetisation move will do no harm to the poor. “But some political parties have become poor.”
Asked about Mayawati’s charge the move amounted to ‘economic emergency’, he said it has caused economic emergency in her party BSP.
The government is pained with the inconvenience caused to the people and the BJP sympathises with them, he said to a question about long queues in banks as people rush to change scrapped Rs 1,000/500 notes, he added the move will strengthen economy.
“All patriots, the common man, tax payers... have welcomed the move. I want to make it clear that no tax payer needs to worry and the government will protect the interests of the poor, farmers, labourers, small traders,” the BJP president said.
With its demonetisation exercise, the government has taken its war against black money to a decisive level, Shah told journalists.
Rejecting the charge of opposition parties that BJP leaders and those close to the party were informed in advance, he said only constitutional authorities and those related to the administrative measures were aware.
“BJP has no illicit money. We periodically submit our accounts with the Election Commission,” he said.
The feedback BJP has received shows that people from all walks of lives have welcomed the decision, he said. Despite inconvenience, people of the country are praising it, he added.
“It is possible that there is some inconvenience to people. I empathise with them and appeal to them to support the exercise as the government has taken a hard decision for economy’s benefits,” he said.
Whenever a big change is made, some inconvenience happens, he added.
Shah noted the move is the latest among the Modi government’s measures against black money as he noted its decisions to set up an SIT, inking agreements with several countries and scheme to bring out black money that resulted in declaration of over Rs 65,000 crore.
He also hailed bank staff for working hard and extra hours to deal with rush of people.
Asked about long queues outside ATMs which are quickly running out of cash adding to people’s woes, Shah said it will take some time to re-programme cash-dispensers so that they could accept and dispose new currency notes.
“ATM is a machine and not human. It operates as per weight and size of currency notes. The weight and size of new notes are different and it will take some time to re-programme them,” he said.
Right now only Rs 100 notes were available, causing ATMs to run out of them quickly.
“People will have inconvenience for some days. That is why I have sought their cooperation,” he said.
IMAGE: BJP president Amit Shah addresses a press conference on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo
