RANCHI: Congress
Rajya Sabha
member Oscar Fernandez called Centre’s demonetisation a sick joke on the poor people of the country. The former Union minister in UPA cabinet led his party’s gherao against the
Reserve Bank of India’s regional office in Ranchi and said that demonetisation has spawned a new class of corruption.
“The economy has been damaged. The demonetisation has led to the rise of a new class of corruption where banks, bank officials and common people got involved. Demonetisation is nothing but a sick joke on the poor,” Fernandez said at the gherao in the afternoon.
Congress on Wednesday conducted a nationwide gherao programme of the RBI offices and demanded that it re-establishes its transparency as the financial regulator of the country.
Fernandez and the state
Congress committee leaders said that the demonetisation has led to inflation and rendered many jobless. “Lakhs of workers in the glass and bike industry have lost their jobs. On the other hand, the farmers have suffered the most losses after they could not bring their produce to markets for the shortage of currencies,” Fernandez alleged.
State Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat and former UPA minister Subodh Kant Sahay, Geetashree Oraon, Congress MP
Rameshwar Oraon
and others participated in the RBI gherao alongside Fernandez. The Congress leader submitted a memorandum to RBI officials.
Meanwhile, Fernandez’s leadership seemed to alleviate the rift in the party rank and file. Congress MLAs Irfan Ansari, Manoj Yadav and Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Balmuchu shared the dias with Bhagat. Ansari and Yadav had spoken publicly earlier against Bhagat and his leadership.
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