Rahul slams govt for looking to rob RBI of autonomy

new delhi — The Congress on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of playing with India’s economic sovereignty by trying to demolish the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and seeking transfer of Rs3.6 trillion or onethird of the central bank’s reserves.

The Congress said if the “unprecedented” demand by the Modi government was allowed to materialise it would tantamount to the “great Indian bank robbery”.

“Rs 36,00,00,00,00,000, that’s how much the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) needs from the RBI to fix the mess his genius economic theories have created. Stand up to him Mr. Patel. Protect the nation,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted ridiculing Modi’s economic policies that have messed up the Indian economy, urging the RBI Governor Urjit Patel to resist the Centre’s demand at all cost.

Later addressing the media, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said: “The RBI has been strongly resisting the unprecedented demand by the government. But if this demand were to fructify, this would tantamount to great Indian robbery.”

Citing reports that the Modi government “may have invoked” Section 7 of the RBI Act to get its wish fulfilled, Tewari said such a move was unprecedented and reflected

the government’s bid to demolish the central bank’s autonomy.

“This is going to have a profound implication on the macroeconomic stability of India as it is the RBI’s autonomy which provides confidence to foreign and Indian investors with regard to the stability of the Indian economy,” said the former Union minister asserting that the Congress would strongly resist the government’s move to demolish the RBI autonomy.

Tewari alleged that the Modi government was seeking the money to dole out freebies ahead of the 2019 general elections. —

The RBI has been strongly resisting the unprecedented demand by the government. But if this demand were to fructify, this would tantamount to great Indian robbery

Manish Tewari, Congress spokesperson