PM has lost moral right to continue: Mamata

Mamata Banerjee held PM Modi responsible for the chaos in the country post demonetisation and said he has lost his moral right to continue in his post.

Kolkata, Dec 8: Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday held him responsible for the chaos in the country post demonetisation and said he has lost his moral right to continue in his post.

"He has to take the responsibility as he had misled the country without any planning. He must clarify to the nation (about the situation). He has lost his moral right to continue as the Prime Minister of the country. They neither took the right decision nor took any expert opinion. Parliamentary parties were not taken into confidence. Everything is done in secrecy as if he is some Ali Baba. He should know he is occupying a constitutional post," Banerjee said.

"They keep on changing the narrative. First, they said black money... and now they are citing cashless and digital transaction," she added.

Further, she said demonetisation hit the entire economy - from the jute industry to tea plantation to the e-commerce sector.

Banerjee said in the third quarter, the economic growth would fall two percent and the country would lose "Rs 3 lakh crore".

"Why should the country suffer due to a sudden decision of a person? There is no team work and it is a one man show. A dictator show is going on and we are deeply concerned," Banerjee said.

She said there were no banks in 92 percent of villages while the centre was talking about digitisation.

"The country wants to know why the demonetisation move was undertaken. Why the country has lost its Gross Domestic Product? Who is beneficiary? The currency is not yet available after one month of demonetisation," she said.

She also said there is no development work going on.

"I was sitting idle yesterday (Wednesday) without any work. Workers are laid-off and about 5 crore workers lost their jobs," Banerjee added.

"More than Rs 12.65 lakh crore was deposited. Where is black money?," she said.

Banerjee also said the demonetisation drive has been a mystery.

"The situation has deteriorated over the one month of demonetisation. What have the Finance Minister (Arun jaitley) and Reserve Bank of India's governor (urjit Patel) done?," she asked.

IANS