I rise to speak on Motion of thanks, opposing it and supporting the Amendments given by us. Sir, look at the ruling party benches. There are not even ten members there which means they have gone out with the Prime Minister; they have no respect for the President. They have only respect for the Prime Minister.When he left they all left like a flock of sheep.

Sir, Now coming to the President’s speech I am reminded of the film of Om Puri who passed away recently; the film was called ‘Ardh Satya’. The President’s speech was ‘Ardh Satya’ in that it does not mention most of the important issue facing the nation.

Sir, you know what are the problems before the nation. There is a crisis internationally with a change of regime in the United States. There is a possibility that Indian technical professionals who have gone there will be barred. The protectionist policy of America may create problems for trade and industry in our country in future. The China-Pakistan axis is active against us; China is building a port in Pakistan. China is continuing to block our entry into the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Also China has refused to declare Masood Azhar as a terrorist thus preventing naming him at the United Nations. The President’s speech does not mention any of these problems. The President’s speech mentions the surgical strike. But Pakistan’s policy is not to have a surgical strike. They have said they will make India bleed from a thousand cuts. There is no mention in the President’s speech that how we will fight the shadow or proxy war in Kashmir.

Sir, above all the President’s speech is a cruel speech. The President of the country should take note of the people who died meaninglessly; 150 people died as a result of demonetisation. We all know who is responsible for that. President’s speech does not even mention a word about the sad death of these 150 people.

In the last three months since November people are dying in railway accidents. In Kanpur (UP) on 20 November 146 people died in a railway accident. President talks about Railways in Para 48. He does not make a mention of those people’s death. On 22 January, 39 people were killed and 50 injured in an accident of the Hirakhand Express. Not a word mentioned in the President’s speech about this.

President’s speech has spoken about the Government’s success in controlling Maoist activities. Though it has admitted that state of Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra MP witness rise in number of incidents and deaths in 2016 compare to 2015 is 72. In Koraput just last week the Maoist incident happened. All policemen have been killed. The Maoists are active even in Odisha especially in the district of Koraput. The President has not taken this into cognizance. How can I support this?

I want to speak on the main issue of demonetisation which was declared by the Prime Minister on the 8 November, 2016. It is the most senseless, cruel, heartless step taken by any Government since 70 years of independence. It has disrupted our economy.

It was said that demonetisation is to prevent black money. It is common knowledge that in our country only 6 percent of the black money is kept in currency notes. The rest is kept in gold, jewelry, foreign assets, land and real estate here. Why did you have to kill the whole economy to control black money?

What success did the Government have in bringing back black money stacked abroad? Now they say that counterfeit notes were the problem. The Indian Statistical Institute has estimated that only 0.028 per cent of the total currency in circulation is counterfeit notes, which means Rs 400 crore. For that Rs 400 crore do you cancel all the notes? And in the process what have you done? You have destroyed the lives of poor people.

Ninety per cent of our people use currency notes, 45% of our economy is informal. Sir, you know the Prime Minister talks about digital economy. The total number of credit and debit cards in this country of 125 crore people is 9 crore. There are only 1.36 lakh bank branches in this country, only 2.18 lakh ATMs. Now, in a country which has 5.5 lakh villages, with this few debit and credit cards, with this few ATMs, how can you say that the economy will go digital? It has killed lives.

Do you know, Sir, Bengali workers, who work in Delhi, Bombay and Surat in the jewellery trade have all lost their jobs and come back to Bengal, which is why there is an increase in demand for NREGA? And in Bengal alone, 81 lakh people have been hit be demonetisation, the worst step possible.

Sir, in our Finance Committee, we questioned the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor. I asked him only two questions. How much black money has been deposited in the banks in Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes? He could not reply, and he will not reply, because more than Rs 15.44 lakh crore have been deposited. Number two, I asked him, when do you think we will be able to raise our money, because now, with the restriction, you cannot raise more than Rs 24,000 per week? When will this restriction be removed? He could not tell us.

There is a restriction of Rs 2.5 lakh on marriages. Several ministers’ children got married. Jaitley ji’s daughter got married; there were functions for several days. Gadkari ji’s son got married. Today is Prakash Javadekar’s son’s marriage. Let them come and declare that they’ll manage the marriages within Rs 2.5 lakh. They have not cared for the common people of this country.

Sir, they are only talking about digital. Yes, the BJP in our State, Bengal deposited Rs 3 crore on the evening of November 8. How did they know? It has happened all over Bengal. In Bihar, the BJP party has purchased property in all the districts – how did it come about?

Sir, this is a surgical strike on the Indian people. The GDP will fall due to this monumental mismanagement. People have spent their time standing in queues, and now Rs 20,000 crore will be spent to print new notes. On January 18, the RBI governor told us that only Rs 9 lakh crore have come back into circulation. That means the cash crunch continues.

Sir, our party, the Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, has been protesting against this anti-people and anti-national step taken by the Prime Minister from day one. Now that is why the Central Government is using and abusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to punish our people.

You’ll be sad to know, Sir, that the leader of our party, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a Member of this House, and Tapas Pal, were arrested. The law will take its own course. But we say that this is arrest on trumped-up charges; this is arrest as a part of political vendetta. And if the ruling party at the Centre thinks that in this way it will be able to cower the Trinamool Congress and cower Mamata Banerjee, it is living in a fool’s paradise. We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on the fields of India, we shall never surrender till the people of India throw this Government out lock, stock and barrel; our fight will continue.

Sir, I have some small points to say. This government  is misusing the CBI while the real fight should be elsewhere. The President has spoken about the banks; they are in the worst condition. The total NPAs of the banks are Rs 8 lakh crore and the government found out a way to refund the banks by asking people to deposit their money in the banks. Their health is notorious and most of the debts are from big corporates.

We have demanded time and again to reveal the names of those who are big debtors to the banks. We have seen how Vijay Mallya was able to escape from India, we have seen how Lalit  Modi was allowed to escape from India. And these people talk of corruption and fight against black money.

Sir, two diaries were discovered – the Sahara diaries. They mention the name of a certain big dignitary sitting there; the Supreme Court has said that it is not enough evidence But there is no sufficient evidence as nobody was allowed to investigate. Why were they not investigated to find out who the Gujarat CM was or who NM was? Who took the money from Sahara or the Aditya Birla group? That was not revealed yet.

Sir, this government has talked about electrification, they say that by May 1, 2018, all villages will be electrified, only 64% have been electrified, only 32% still remain. Do you know, Sir, that in PMGSY 68% of the targeted road length has been constructed, 44% of targeted habitations have been connected. They have failed in PMGSY and rural electrification. The worst case is that these people talk of women safety, in the Nirbhaya fund out of Rs 2000 crore, only Rs 400 crore were under implementation.

Sir, the President speaks about our cultural diversity at every speech. In the whole speech the word ‘intolerance’ in not mentioned. Intolerance is the biggest problem plaguing us. In Karnataka rationalists have been shot dead by Hindu extremists. The president has not spoken about that. Sir, you know that Dalits were attacked in Una in Gujarat. There is not a word about attack on Dalits in Gujarat.

Lastly, Sir, I want to say that in Jammu and Kashmir for 6 months after the killing of Burhan Wani, the whole state came to a standstill, I was with the All-Party Delegation which went there. Not a single person willing to talk to us. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country, where the ruling party at the Centre is a partner in the government. More than 100 people were killed. Is this the way the ruling party is dealing with it? The President has not mentioned Jammu and Kashmir and the problems there at all.

Sir, that’s why I say, that President’s speech leaves out half the important matters confronting the country. The country is today, facing jobless growth. Lack of jobs is the biggest problem. The President does not mention the word ‘unemployment’ in his speech. Today Sir, we are facing the maximum crisis in private sector investment. Nobody is investing in this country. The President does not speak about this.

Sir, that’s why through this speech I again lodge my protest against the reckless demonetisation undertaken by this government and I’m sure that the people in these five states will reply to this government’s reckless step. I lodge my protest against the arrest of our Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay and MP Tapas Pal and I’m sure that the people of this country will see through this political vendetta and take steps against this autocratic government at the Centre.
Thank You.