Senior Congress leaders staged ‘RBI gherao’ protests outside its offices in several states as part of the party’s anti-demonetisation stir during which ex-Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was detained in Ahmedabad and police resorted to lathi charge in Nagpur.
The leaders, who were joined by scores of Congress workers, also demanded the resignation of RBI Governor Urjit Patel for the “failure to maintain RBI’s autonomy” and for the problems being faced by people following the note ban announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.
In Mumbai, state Congress president Ashok Chavan accused the Modi government of converting the RBI into a ‘RSS shakha’ and demanded resignation of Urjit Patel for throwing the lives of 125 crore Indians into a disarray with demonetisation.
“We held a gherao protest at RBI in Mumbai, on behalf of MPCC and MRCC,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said. He accused the Modi government of trying to make RBI a “branch of BJP and RSS”.
In Nagpur, Congress workers were lathicharged by police during their demonstration in front of the RBI office even as a morcha led by former Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan demanded the resignation of the RBI Governor.
While a delegation led by Prithviraj Chavan went inside the RBI to submit a memorandum, some Congress workers outside the office raised slogans and the situation became tense. Some party workers alleged that the police lathi-charged them.
A few Congress workers were also detained and to protest the police lathi-charge, some party leaders later staged a sit-in dharna in front of the RBI office.
