On Nov 9, RJD chief Lalu Yadav to hold anti-demonetisation rallies across Bihar

RJD will hold rallies across Bihar on November eight, the day when demonetisation was announced a year ago, to highlight the alleged failures of the step taken by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, party Supremo Lalu Prasad said on Monday.

A few days ago Lalu has shown his intention to hold a grand rally against the NDA governments at the Centre and in Bihar, where his former ally Nitish Kumar is now heading a government in alliance with the BJP.

“At our November eight rallies we will ask the BJP what the common people gained by the arbitrary step of invalidating Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes”, he told reporters in Patna.

“The note ban wreaked havoc on small traders. Millions of people were forced to stand for hours in queues outside banks to get their old notes exchanged. The country’s economy is in tatters as a result of this decision,” he added.

Prasad and his family members are facing probes and frequent interrogations by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in connection with corruption charges.

The Grand Alliance, comprising RJD, Kumar’s JD(U) and the Congress, which had swept the 2015 assembly polls, collapsed in July this year following differences between the Bihar Chief Minister and Prasad’s party over the course of action to be adopted following the name of the then Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav cropping up in hotels for land scam.

Incidentally, much before he quit the alliance, Kumar had come out in support of demonetisation and had urged the Modi government to tighten the noose further on Benami transactions to curb the flow of black money.