Left parties to hold meeting tomorrow to plan protests on Nov. 8 against Centre

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday said the Left parties will hold a meeting tomorrow, only after which they will announce their protest plan on the anniversary of Demonetisation on November 8.

While addressing a press conference here, Yechury said, "Tomorrow, we have called for a Left parties meeting. After that, we will announce the protest plan across the country on the anniversary of Demonetisation on November 8. Also, on November 9, 10 and 11 the Left-affiliated trade union will hold a 'Maha Dharna' in India."

Yechury's statement has come after the announcement of plans by the Opposition parties to organise nationwide protests against the economic fallout of demonetisation on November 8, which, they claim, has ruined the rural economy and impacted small traders and the informal sector.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, earlier in the day, told the media here, "Possibly, this is the first time that a decision announced by the Prime Minister had to be changed 135 times. It just shows how ill-conceived it was."

Azad was speaking in the presence of Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav and Trinamool Congress leader Derek O. Brien, besides others.

He claimed that 18 parties would be protesting in their own respective ways in all states.

Meanwhile, coming out in support of the Tamil movie 'Mersal', Yechury stated that only after certification from the censor board, the movie was released.

"A film was certified by the censor board and then due to the BJP's pressure, it was mounted for cut. Nothing was wrongly portrayed in the movie, neither was any message delivered negatively. Making a controversy over it was not necessary," he said.

'Mersal' was in the midst of a controversy after the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded the removal of certain dialogues, which take a dig at the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Digital India programme.

Yechury also pointed at the killings in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.

"Kerala's law and order is a state subject, but intervention of the CBI is a political purpose. I clarify here that we are not against the CBI; but we have asked the Kerala High Court that we want an investigation into the political murders in Kerala," he said.