Lalu says note ban helped conversion of black money into white

His RJD held rallies and staged demonstrations across Bihar to protest demonetisation.

Patna, November 8: On the first anniversary of demonetisation, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav launched a blistering attack on the BJP, saying the move served the purpose of "converting black money into white with greater ease".

His RJD held rallies and staged demonstrations across Bihar to protest demonetisation.

"Black money was converted into white with greater ease as a result of the note ban. The poor were fooled into believing that it was a step keeping their interests in mind," Prasad said.

The RJD chief mocked the "Kala Dhan Virodh Diwas" (anti- black money day) being observed by the BJP to celebrate one year of scrapping of high value currency notes.

"Exactly one year has passed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his decision to ban notes (of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations).

While it was touted as a major step against black money, till now the government has not been able to tell the people how much black money has been flushed out of the system," Prasad told reporters here.

"The BJP workers are trying to delude themselves by celebrating the anniversary of demonetisation.This one miscalculated step will go a long way in ensuring their ouster from power," he added. "We are hitting the streets to remind the people of the hardships they had to face.

So many people had died standing in queues and so many have lost their livelihoods as a result of this whimsical step," Prasad said. RJD workers in large numbers staged a demonstration close to the collectorate, giving a tough time to the police to keep things under control.

Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejaswi Yadav is scheduled to join the agitators there.

The RJD supremo is scheduled to address a rally at Hajipur in Vaishali district across the Ganges later in the day. The Congress, which is an RJD ally in the state, is also staging demonstrations separately, across Bihar in protest against demonetisation.

At a demonstration against demonetisation in Patna, former state Congress president Ashok Choudhary participated. The party has planned candlelight marches in the evening in the state capital in memory of those who whose deaths have been blamed on hardships caused by the note ban.

PTI