West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee hit the streets of Kolkata on Monday, with her party activists and representatives from civil society, arts and films. She shouted slogans against PM and asked the public to remove Modi from power immediately to save the country.
“Modi sarkar, shame shame!” shouted the chief minister.
The long walk from college-street to Esplanade, called Akrosh meeting, started around 12.30 pm. Several lakhs of people joined the big rally. The Akrosh meeting was called against the demonetisation measure adopted by the BJP government.
However, the chief minister of West Bengal decided to oppose the 12-hour strike announced by CPM and Congress. At the behest of her chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee, circulars were issued asking all state government employees to be present in office. Otherwise, action would be taken against them. She also asked her ministers to see to it that vehicles plied on the roads and shops remained open.
But her Monday rally virtually clogged the city roads, stalling the transport and other essential services.
Mamata warned Modi not to take hasty decision without understanding the consequence.
“Placing the entire nation in a grim situation, Narendra Modi is having a nice sleep. People are starving because of him,” said Mamata.
Dubbing Modi a modern-day Hitler, Mamata said that PM wanted to become the leader of the world and not just the country.
“Just see his desperation. I am asking people to burst into agitation and oppose the movement wherever they are. He is asking people to go cashless,” she said.
The chief minister warned people that in the coming days, the prime minister would take away gold, flats and belongings of the common people in the name of cracking down on black money.
Taking a dig at Modi, she said, “I will see it out till the end. I am going to Lucknow today. I have no party strength there. But I will take my case to the masses.”
