Opening another front in her fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on demonetization, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused him of “removing crucial files” related to the notes ban.
She also alleged that demonetisation was a “ploy to transform white money into black and black money into white”.
“Crucial files are being removed by Narendra Modi and his office. We will get to know the magnitude of the scam only after Modi is ousted from office. This demonetisation is nothing but a ploy to change white money into black and black money into white,” she told a rally outside the RBI office here.
Mamata urged the Reserve Bank of India authorities to “stand up against the anti-people Modi government” and reveal the amount of money provided to various states after high-value currency notes were taken off circulation.
Claiming that the CBI was being “used to victimise” her party because it raised its voice against demonetization, the Trinamool Congress chief accused the central investigating agency of “using” former employees of Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund companies to create “back offices” in order to come up with “false evidence” to implicate TMC leaders in the scam.
The TMC has been staging a 72-hour sit-in outside the RBI office here against demonetization since January 9.
“The RBI was kept in the dark about the decision. It should stand up against the Modi government and reveal the real reasons behind demonetization. It should make public how much money has been pumped back into the economy and the amount of money states have received post demonetization,” Banerjee said.
She alleged that “only Modi and two-three of his associates” were aware of the decision to scrap old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
Banerjee indirectly hit out at a section of industrialists and officials close to Modi, describing them as “part of Modi’s team” behind the demonetization decision.
“They (Modi government) have turned the CBI into the Conspiracy Bureau of India and are using it for pursuing vendetta politics. The CBI has created a back office to come up with false evidence against our leaders to implicate them in chit fund cases,” she alleged.
The TMC chief was referring to the CBI’s arrest of two of her party MPs, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal, in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam.
Mamata alleged that the CPI(M) had entered into a “political match-fixing” with the BJP as it was “under the Left rule that the chit funds had mushroomed in the state”.
“It was during the CPI(M) regime that Rose Valley and Saradha chit funds came into being. What were the SEBI and RBI doing then? Several top CPI(M) leaders were involved in the chit fund business but none of them was summoned. It only shows that the CPI(M) and the BJP have teamed up in Bengal,” she said.
PTI