No less than 200 businessmen from different trade bodies on Friday staged a massive sit-in against the Centre’s demonetisation move at ludhiana alleging that the industry has been hit hard after high-value currency notes were scrapped.
Their protest was supported by various political leaders, including senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar and lok Insaf Party leader Simarjeet Singh Bains.
The protesters also blocked traffic for about an hour and raised slogans against the Narendra Modi-led Government.
local industry representatives claimed that demonetisation had adversely impacted businesses and also rendered a large number of labourers jobless.
“Demonetisation has badly hit Punjab’s consumption economy. The withdrawal of liquidity has triggered the collapse of every entrepreneur in the State while industries have already laid off thousands of workers in recent months, firstly because of exploitative polices of the local leadership and then due to demonetisation,” Jakhar claimed.
Questioning the Badals’ silence on demonetisation related woes of people, he alleged, “The Modi-led Government is clearly targeting the middle class by strangulating the consumption economy.”
He said that Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s plea to the Centre to solve the cash problem was “too little and too late”.
Even within the BJP, there were tremors of protest now over the situation arising out of demonetisation, which had devastated the economy, said Jakhar, adding that the industries, the farming sector and the small traders in Punjab had been badly hit by the cash crunch.
Jakhar said: “It is not just these segments but the future of the youth, and the future of the State, that is being destroyed by demonetisation…With industries closing down, unemployment of youth is becoming a bigger problem, leading to more drug woes for Punjab.”
Jakhar said that State Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh could not join the protest as he has a meeting with the Prime Minister in New Delhi on loan waiver for farmers.
He assured that Capt Amarinder would meet them and take their views and suggestions on battling “long term ill-effects” of demonetisation.
Earlier, in a rally, local BJP leader Rajinder Bhandari was not allowed to complete his speech by a section of the audience.