Trinamool Congress Stages Protest Rally Outside RBI

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress on Thursday staged a protest rally on the issue of demonetisation outside the RBI office, where the apex bank's governor Urjit Patel is addressing its central board meeting.

Demanding an immediate rollback of the demonetisation, TMC MLAs and ministers started a protest rally from state Assembly to the RBI office in BBD Bag area of the city.

Patel is here to address the central board meeting of the apex bank on Thursday.

"We will continue our protest until the draconian decision of demonetisation is withdrawn. Tomorrow also we will organise a similar protest-rally.

"India is a democracy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can't bulldoze his anti-people decision on the entire country," Power minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay told the rally.

Led by Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim and Chattopadhyay, several top ministers and MLAs carrying placards and black flags shouted slogans against the Modi government.

"A financial emergency has been imposed in the country and the RBI Governor is sitting idle. Under Modi's regime, the RBI has no function. Its the PMO and PM who are calling the shots. Patel is just a mute spectator. We want to know the role of RBI and what are the steps they are taking. We demand an immediate rollback of the decision," he said.

Irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee, compared Narendra Modi with Hitler and said he was the "worst" prime minister, India ever had.

"We had heard about Hitler, who neither bothered to have any second line of command nor any second line of opinion. Whatever he used to say is final. Now in this century we are witnessing Modi, who is also a Hitler of our generation, who believes in dictatorship and one man rule. He is not bothered about the pangs of the thousands and crores of common people, he is only bothered about his whims and fancies," he said.

"Modi is the worst prime minister India ever had. Never before India has seen such as worthless prime minister. For whose interest did he take the decision to demonetise the high currency notes and throw the entire Indian economy in a mess. He has to come clean on it," Banerjee said.

TMC is one of the most vocal opposition parties against demonetisation since it was announced by the Prime Minister on November 8.