Left to step up protests against currency spike

Accusing the government of "criminally overlooking" the misery of the people, the Left parties on Tuesday vowed to launch a mass movement against the demonetisation from Thursday.

"The Left parties have decided that an all India protest action will be organised against the continuing mounting agonies of the common people, particularly the marginalized sections of our society," the parties said in a statement.

"Already over 70 people have reportedly died as a result of this decision by the government to withdraw Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes from circulation."

The meeting was attended by leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Forward Bloc and Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist.

The parties accused the central Government of "criminally overlooking the misery of the common people".

The parties also accused the government of embarking on the demonetisation move "without proper homework and preparations" and said all sections of the working people and bulk of rural India had been put to untold misery.

The Left parties demanded monetary compensation to the families of all those who lost their lives following the demonetisation announced on November 8.

"The banks even after two weeks are reporting that only 10 percent of the value of the withdrawn currency have reached them through the new notes," the statement said.

It said crores of people were being deprived the use of money for elementary exchanges required for their day to day life.

The Left parties called for a waiver of all loans to farmers and demanded immediate recovery of over 11 lakh crore non-performing assets of banks by confiscating properties of defaulters.

"The government must investigate the Sahara-Birla papers revelations and initiate criminal proceedings, apart from annulling Double Taxation agreements with tax havens and publishing the names of foreign account holders and proceeding against them," they said.

The parties also urged the Centre to permit the use of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes for all legal and legitimate transactions till December 30.

--IANS

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