Cong observes 'Black Day' in J&K, takes out protest marches

The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) took out protest marches in Jammu and Srinagar today to mark the first anniversary of demonetisation, which the party observed as 'Black Day' across the country.
Scores of party activists assembled at M A Road in Srinagar and Maharaja Hari Singh Park in Jammu.
The Congressmen, led by senior leaders, waved black flags and shouted slogans against the Centre denouncing the move.
"Demonetisation, followed by the Goods and Service Tax (GST), broke the backbone of the people of the country, especially the poor.
"The gross domestic product (GDP) growth is on decline while the only beneficiaries of the move are (industrialists) Adani and Ambani," state Congress president G A Mir told protesters at the Maharaja Hari Singh Park.

Alleging that over 100 people died due to demonetisation, Mir demanded a compensation of Rs 1 crore each for the families of the deceased.

Congress leader and former minister Taj Mohiuddin said the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre "failed" to provide the details about black money it recovered due to demonetisation.
"Instead of benefiting the countrymen, demonetisation has created many problems for the people across the country," Mohiuddin said to reporters during the protest march in Srinagar.
The senior Congress leader said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi said 'the move would benefit the country as terrorism and Naxalism would reduce', but nothing has happened."

"He (Modi) said terror will stop, but there is more militancy now than it was before. Naxalism has not stopped. More security personnel have been killed than in the years before.
"Stone pelting has not stopped in Kashmir. What has demonetisation achieved?" he questioned.
Separately, a group of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (NPP) workers, led by its chairman Harsh Dev Singh, staged a demonstration against demonetisation in Jammu.
Describing the demonetisation exercise as a "cover-up operation" to hide the alleged failure of the BJP-led government in bringing back the black money stashed abroad, Singh said, "People were gradually realising the truth behind its deceptive facades."

The Congress, which described the note ban decision as the "biggest scam" and "the largest government-abetted money laundering scheme", has asked all its state units to organise protests, processions and marches to mark the day.