Mamata Banerjee to RBI chief: Stand up against note ban

Kolkata: Amidst protests by Trinamul Congress against demonetisation, RBI governor Urjit Patel on Thursday met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and expressed her concerns over hardship faced by people and “political discrimination amongst states”.

“I am satisfied that at last I got the opportunity to convey to him the collective views of the people of the entire country who are facing enormous problems,” she said after the meeting.

Ms Banerjee pointed out she considered her an hour long meeting with Mr Patel, who gave her a patient hearing, “positive” at a time when the Prime Minister is inaccessible.  

Earlier, Mr Patel attended a meeting of RBI central board at the apex bank’s office here where TMC and CPI-M staged demonstrations. A littler earlier another group of TMC workers waved black flags and shouted “Go back Urjit Patel.”

The Opposition CPI(M) also organised a protest outside the RBI in the morning where leaders like Surjya Kanta Mishra and Biman Bose attacked the Centre.

To dodge the media and avoid protesters, Mr Patel arrived at the RBI much before the central board meeting. Sources said that he entered through the back door.

Protests followed the RBI governor even when he reached the airport in the evening ahead of his departure. Congress agitators waving black flags shouted “Go Back” slogans. There was even some jostling. His security personnel had a tough time in whisking him away safely inside the VIP lounge of the airport.

Reiterating her complaint of “discrimination, Ms Banerjee conveyed her unhappiness over the allocation of more new currency notes to Assam than to Bengal. “I told him that in order to maintain transparency (about the allocation of notes) the RBI should announce on its website how much money has been given to each state,” she said.

She claimed that demonetisation has come as a double setback for the states thereby stalling the GST. The chief minister also handed over a letter to Mr Patel, enlisting the reasons for state government’s opposition to the scrapping of old notes.

Describing Mr Modi’s whimsical decision a “cruel misadventure” Ms Banerjee reminded  Mr Patel of his duty as head of an “autonomous” institution. “ Stand up against demonetisation....rather than falling silent and remaining opaque,” she advised him, adding that RBI should not be misused or used politically.

Saying that demonetisation has caused “unprecedented misery and suffering” to the people, she asserted that give crore workers in the country across all sectors are facing unemployment due to demonetisation. “ Unorganised sector which provides two-third jobs has collapsed. The small and medium enterprises are shutting down. The massive trading sector has been been brought down to its knees due to cash crunch,” the letter said.