Mamata accuses Modi of using demonetisation to turn black money white and buy votes

On Wednesday, West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using demonetisation to convert huge amounts of black money into white and then spending it to buy votes. She was speaking at a public meeting in Serampore in Hooghly district in support of Trinamool Congress candidates.

The allegations

Addressing Modi directly, Banerjee said he might have forced notebandi on people, but he could “never buy voters in Bengal”. She said Modi would be removed after the election and that her side would show what a big scam demonetisation had been.

She alleged that the BJP was bringing in guns and goons to secure votes and that its workers were holding processions with arms and sharp weapons to spread fear, and said this would not be allowed in Bengal. People had to resist such attempts to keep peace and harmony in the state, she said.

Banerjee also claimed that Modi had handed out liquor licences to a handful of chosen people just before the polls, and said the TMC government would expose this and show his “real face”.

Citizens’ register and the contest

Banerjee repeated that not a single person would be made to leave the state. Both Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have spoken repeatedly of bringing the citizens’ register to the state to remove what they describe as a large number of infiltrators.

Urging people to defeat Modi to save the country and the Constitution, she predicted that the BJP would not win a single seat, that the TMC would take all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, and that it would form the government at the Centre with like-minded secular parties.

She also addressed a rally at Krishnagar and took part in a roadshow in Burdwan.

Background

The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was announced on 8 November 2016.

What happened next

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, counted on 23 May 2019, the BJP won 303 of 543 seats nationally and Modi was sworn in for a second term on 30 May 2019.

See also: election news

Originally published on 24 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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