The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on November 29, 2016.

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) greets the lakhs of people who came out into the streets on November 28 to protest against the attack on their livelihoods and the burdens imposed upon the people through the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP have misleadingly called the national protest day as a Bharat bandh. None of the opposition parties which joined the protest had called for a Bharat bandh. In fact it is the Modi government which has imposed an economic bandh on the country through demonetisation.

The hartals in Kerala and Tripura were particularly successful because the Left parties mobilised the people to register a powerful protest.

The Polit Bureau appeals to all opposition parties, trade unions and mass organisations to continue the protest movement to ensure that the people can use the old notes for all transactions till adequate alternative arrangements are made.