Congressmen protest in Shillong against note ban; face counter-protest

Congress supporters, led by party legislators in Meghalaya, on Wednesday rallied at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) office here to protest against demonetisation.

Two civil society groups -- Civil Society Women's Organisation and Thma U Rangli -- held a counter-protest near the RBI office and accused both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress of being equally corrupt.

Former Assam Congress minister Rockybul Hussain and former Arunachal Pradesh MP Takam Sanjoy led the protestors. Meghalaya ministers Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh, Ronnie V. Lyngdoh and Sniawbhalang Dhar and a host of other Congress leaders were also present.

"The Congress and the BJP are indulging in thievery. Both these parties are two sides of the same corrupt coin," CSWO President Agnes Kharshiing said as Congress protestors shouted anti-Modi slogans outside the RBI premises.

Declaring that they too are against demonetisation since it has affected the common man, leaders of the two groups also blamed the Congress for the hardships to the people in Meghalaya.

"The Congress government has refused to appoint a Lokayukta in Meghalaya even after the assembly passed an Act in 2014; so did the BJP-led government on the Lokpal. It indicates they are not interested in fighting corruption because they themselves are corrupt," Thma U Rangli leader Angela Rangad said.

Senior Congress leaders refused to comment on the charges, saying that the "common man knows which party is corrupt".

"We have nothing to say; our protest today (Wednesday) is against demonetisation which has badly hit the common man across the country," former Assam minister Rockybul Hussain said.

--IANS

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