Quit, Congress tells RBI guv
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee on Friday demanded RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s resignation for the ‘demonetisation mess’, and asked the Central government to lift all restrictions on the withdrawal of money and restore the central bank’s autonomy.
While staging a dharna in front of the RBI regional headquarters at Saifabad here, TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy said: “RBI has lost its autonomy. He must resign forthwith taking responsibility for the ‘demonetisation mess’ and for allowing the Modi government to encroach upon the jurisdiction of RBI and make the institution a mouthpiece of the government.”
He said the RBI and the finance ministry have changed rules and directives on demonetisation 138 times in 70 days. The RBI alone has issued 78 notifications to change rules in 70 days, making people term it as ‘Reverse Bank of India’.
Stating that the government should restore the people’s right to withdraw their own money by lifting all restrictions, he demanded a white paper by the Modi government answering all questions raised by the Congress on behalf of the people.
Mr Reddy said India’s ‘wheel of development’ has come to a standstill as crores of people were made to queue up in front of banks and ATMs for last 70 days by giving up their work and losing their livelihood.
Claiming that demonetisation was a surgical strike on India’s poor, farmers, labour, shopkeepers, small businesses, the middle class and the entire unorganised sector, he accused the Prime Minister of pushing the entire country into a state of ‘financial anarchy’.