Note ban anniversary: ‘black day' for Cong, ‘dhoka' for AAP

the goan I network
PANAJI

The Goa Forward Party, which one year back was part of the opposition and calling for the defeat of the BJP has today said that while demonetization hit them hard reducing the number of constituencies they contested, it was now time to look forward.
In a statement to the media, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee said it would observe November 8 as a ‘black day' and organise a protest march from Congress house take a round of Panaji city and return back to Congress house to protest against demonetization "which has ruined the lives of the common man and also small traders."
Addressing a press conference AAP's state treasurer Rahul Mhambre said that the betrayal day will mark how the entire country was put to inconvenience while the rich and powerful simply got away.
"Not only did this brash and destructive step not achieve even a single one of its stated objectives, the words of AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, calling it the biggest scam since Independence, have been proved right over time. At that time, many had slammed Kejriwal as a Modi-obsessed political opponent but today everybody, including economists, media, and opposition leaders, are saying the same thing what Kejriwal said on Nov 11, 2016," Mhambre said.
On the other hand, the Goa Forward Party supremo Vijai Sardesai, which is today part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance said that "what has been done cannot be undone, it is now time to look forward."
"We are now in the government and part of the NDA. Events that happened cannot be reversed and we have to think of policies to take the country forward... progressive policies. We were hit by demonetization. We could contest only four constituencies. Maybe without demonetization we could have contested ten constituencies and won eight, which would have been a problem for all political parties. But we have lived with it and we have lived to fight another day," Vijai Sardesai told The Goan.
Last year, Vijai Sardesai had spoken out against demonetization saying in a tweet: "Demonitising Rs 500&1000 notes is midnyt surgical strike on poor &middleclass of India. Blackmoney abroad untouched." (quoted verbatim).
The AAP on the other hand said that the initial thoughts of their national convenor have only proven right.
"Top leaders of both the BJP and Congress have been entangled in colossal financial scams as revealed first by the Panama Papers and now the Paradise Papers. However, the Modi government has no sincerity of intent to bring to book the hundreds of politicians and influential businessmen named in these papers. All it does is use this incriminating evidence to blackmail opposition politicians and coerce them to join the BJP as witnessed recently with the entry of Narayan Rane, Mukul Roy and Sukh Ram, including in Goa such as Mauvin Godinho and Pandurang Madkaikar," he added.
"Kejriwal had said that cash was forcibly being taken away from the people to capitalize the banks and overcome the `8L crore bad loans of crony capitalists and big industrialists," Mhambre added.