Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that while his government was trying to stop corruption in the country, the Opposition was only interested in stalling House proceedings. He accused the opposition parties of trying to “safeguard the corrupt”.

“They didn’t allow Parliament to function as they were not ready to debate demonetisation,” Modi said. He was speaking at a rally in Uttar Pradesh, which will be going for state Assembly elections in 2017. He said the opposition leaders did not even listen to President Pranab Mukherjee who recently urged the legislators to refrain from disrupting House proceedings during the Winter session.

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“They even threw torn papers at the Speaker to halt Parliament proceedings. They did all this to safeguard the corrupt when the government was busy catching the corrupt,” the prime minister said.

Modi praised the people of the country for their patience. “History will not remember who was the PM who brought about this revolutionary change in eradicating corruption, but will praise people.” he said. He also spoke about the number of initiatives introduced by the Centre to incentivise digital transactions. He said he had suggested a discussion on the source of funding for political parties in Parliament, but that did not happen.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said the prime minster’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was not against corruption or black money, but against farmers and the poor in the country. He was also addressing an election rally in the state on the same day.

Gandhi said he had told the PM when he had met him that the debts of the farmers should be waived, but Modi had not responded to his suggestion. He also accused the government of inaction against those few people who he said had the most of the country’s black money.