Bankrupt CPM and friends ferret out outdated note called bandh - Monday call, Didi demurs

TT, Calcutta, Nov. 25: The CPM and 17 other parties have called a 12-hour "general strike and hartal" in Bengal from 6am on Monday to protest demonetisation, falling back on a discredited tactic that was immediately rejected by Mamata Banerjee.

The Left in Bengal, in solidarity with its Kerala and Tripura counterparts, called the strike in what looked like an attempt to stake claim to pole position in the anti-demonetisation campaign. Mamata has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Narendra Modi government's demonetisation drive.

The strike proposal, moved by Left Front chairman Biman Bose, went virtually unopposed at a meeting this evening as other participants like CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra kept quiet, said sources.

The Left has exempted banks, ATMs and the postal services from the strike that has been called in the middle of the cash crunch. The day of the proposed strike is preceded by two consecutive banking holidays over the weekend.

"Banking is not an essential service, but we have exempted it, keeping in mind the people's problems," Bose said.

Asked about the possible ordeal of those who need to travel to reach the banks, Bose claimed that outside Calcutta, most bank employees and customers lived within walking distance of the branches.

"Make the strike called by 18 parties on November 28 a grand success. Protest the onslaught of the Modi government on the people's right to use their own money," Mishra said later.

The Left, steadily losing support in the state and handed a humiliating defeat in last week's by-elections in Bengal, seemed to be hoping to make the bandh a "success" by piggybacking Mamata's political programme the same day.

The chief minister is scheduled to lead a rally in central Calcutta on Monday on the same issue, but drew a clear distinction between the two programmes and disowned the bandh call.

"In Delhi at the meeting of Opposition parties, a bandh was never discussed or agreed to. We do not support any bandh called," the chief minister tweeted soon after Bose's announcement.

The Trinamul chief, who has sought the Left's support in the movement against demonetisation, added: "People are suffering. So, I appeal to all to help citizens and stand by them in this hour of crisis."

The local Congress has offered "moral support" to the strike call.

Some CPM leaders admitted in private that the strike call was "not the best of ideas" and would only hand more ammunition to the BJP to attack the Left over disruptive politics.

"Strikes and bandhs are now obsolete. It's not like we are going to be able to bring Modi to his knees even with a very successful strike. What is the point of driving people up the wall at this point?" asked a CPM state secretariat member.

"In Kerala and Tripura, we are the ruling party, with the possibility of some impact. Here, with our strike call, we are only going to be embarrassed."

However, the Left Front chairman, in response to a question on Mamata's dismissal of the Left's call, said the strike would "expose" her "political hypocrisy" as she had embarked on a pan-India mission to build a movement against the demonetisation.

"If she does not support the strike, it will expose her political hypocrisy and show that she does not really care about the people. She is only in it for the political mileage," Bose said.

He added that the strike had been called to "demand urgent steps to reduce the inconvenience of the people, a part of the protest agenda taken up by the Opposition parties across the country".

Bose said that people should be allowed to use the old currency notes till December 30 and immediate steps should be taken to ensure an adequate supply of new notes.