Opposition parties demand action against Gopal Shetty for his irresponsible comments made against those people who are dying after the demonetisation drive.
At a time when several people have lost their lives while standing in queue for depositing and replacing old currency notes, BJP MP Gopal Shetty has made an irresponsible statement, “kuch pane ke liye kuch khona padta hai.”. Opposition parties criticised Shetty for the comments made by him and said that he is yet to understand the hardships faced by the common man who all are finding it difficult to buy essential commodities due to shortage of cash. Even though parties welcomed the step taken by the government to curb black money they questioned the manner in which it was undertaken which has caused huge inconvenience to everyone.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “Action must be taken against Gopal Shetty for making such anti-people remarks. He is only adding salt to the wounds of people who are struggling to withdraw their hard earned money from banks.”
Shiv Sena spokesperson Arvind Sawant said, “Mr Shetty is unaware about the ground realities. He should first take stock of the situation before making irresponsible statements. The common man has to bear the brunt of demonetisation while the rich remains unaffected by it.”
Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “Shetty is unaware of the difficulties faced by people who are struggling to make both ends meet after the scrapping of high denomination currency notes. The government has not made arrangements to stock currencies of lower denomination which is creating cash crunch in the market.”
Sunil Sharma a Bhayander resident said, “A person like Gopal Shetty who is the representative of the people should refrain from making such comments. For understanding the reality even politicians should stand in queue for a day outside banks.”
Earlier Gopal Shetty had said army personnel die while safeguarding the border areas of the country. Several personnel have died in Maoist attack and people have lost their lives on account of terrorism. Every year 3,500 commuters die on railway tracks, five lakh people are killed in road accidents but nobody speaks about them. He also had received flak for his insensitive comments on farmer suicides saying that it has become fashionable.
Around 35 people have died so far in the country after currency notes of 500 and 1000 were scrapped by the government. Many of them have died due to rising debts, lack of money for purchasing essential commodities, shortage of money for treatment and depression. Even bank employees are undergoing stress due to rising work load after demonetisation. A State Bank of India employee lost his life in Pune due to heart attack. A senior citizen who was standing in a queue at a bank in Bhayander (West) died of a massive cardiac arrest on Wednesday morning. The man, Deepak Shah, 60, had been going to the bank for the past three days to exchange demonetised notes, said his relatives.
Devraj Singh a 55 year old farmer had committed suicide in Uttar Pradesh after he was unable to withdraw money for marriage. In Nanded, a 60-year-old man, Digamber Kasbe, faced a similar fate after waiting several hours to exchange old notes at a PSU bank. While a 73-year-old man suffered a heart attack and died in Mulund on Friday, an infant lost his life a day after when he was denied admission to a Govandi hospital as his parents only had the old currency notes for paying the deposit. A 42-year-old man, Chhotelal Jaiswal, suffered a heart attack after waiting for over five hours in a queue in Kalwe suburb of Thane on Tuesday and later died in a hospital.
