Thousands of Congress leaders hit the streets protesting the "hasty move" by the Centre to demonetize high value currency notes.
Thousands of Telangana Congress leaders hit the streets in Telangana on Monday protesting the alleged inconvenience and hardships caused to the general public due to the "hasty move" by the Centre to demonetize high value currency notes.
Congress workers took out massive rallies, organised dharnas and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to register their protest. Besides in the headquarters' of 31 districts in Telangana, protests were also organised at the Assembly-level across the State as part of "Aakrosh Diwas" being observed by the Party at the national level.
In Hyderabad, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N Uttam Kumar Reddy led the protest at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) near Lakdi-ka-Pul. Accompanied by senior leaders and thousands of Party workers, Reddy and group marched to the RBI Regional Headquarters. After staging a sit-in for couple of hours, the TPCC chief along with other leaders met RBI Regional Executive Director R N Das to submit a memorandum on behalf of the State Congress.
Leaders Of Opposition K Jana Reddy (Assembly) and Mohammed Ali Shabbir (Council), TPCC Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ex-PCC Presidents V Hanumantha Rao and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, MLCs Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and Santosh Kumar, MLA A Sampath Kumar, ex-Union Minister Sarve Satyanarayana, ex-Minister P Sabitha Indira Reddy and Danam Nagender, NDMA former Vice-Chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy and other senior leaders also participated in the protest.
"The RBI, being an independent statutory institution, has the fundamental role of making responsible decisions related to currency management and executing them. However, Mr. Modi's attempt to make the unilateral decision of demonetizing the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes is nothing but an act of encroaching upon the autonomy of the RBI," Reddy wrote in the memorandum.
The memorandum demanded that the Central government listen to the voice of the people and deliberate a dialogue in the Parliament on the entire exercise of demonetization, and take a collective decision rather than enforcing a dictatorial one. It also demanded a White Paper on the details of the repercussions of the note ban on nation's economy.
But for most part, the memo urged the Centre to immediately ensure that sufficient amount of currency denominations was available round the clock in the ATMs and banks. It also demanded that the government utilize Cooperative banks to conduct currency notes exchange transactions.
In the memo, the Congress leaders demanded compensation for the families of more than 70 people who allegedly lost their lives after being denied medical services for want of hard cash after Modi's sudden announcement in October.
Speaking to the media later, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that India, during the decade of UPA regime under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had evolved as one of the fastest growing economy. However instead of continuing taking progressive economic measures, the Modi-led BJP Government derailed the economy with its regressive policies making.
"Combating unaccountable money is a part of the Congress' fundamental principle, and we, as a Party, when at the Centre, always took stringent measures against black money and strengthened the Indian economy," he said.
The TPCC chief sought to know whether the Prime Minister was aware of the fact that 5% of population of the country held 95% of its wealth, and 95% of population possessed only 5% of the nation's wealth.
"We do not see any of the aforementioned corrupt people within the 5% suffering due to the demonetization. We had not witnessed the Rich standing in queues for exchanging or depositing their money. It was only the poor who were being compelled to exchange notes and suffer the ordeal of standing in long lines, wasting their time and lives," he said.
Stating that the demonitized notes constituted around 86% of liquid cash in market transactions, he alleged that the "irrational" decision taken by the BJP-led government had destroyed the livelihood of the poor, the daily wage labourers, workers of the unorganized sector, farmers, hawkers, and small traders, and most of the middle-class.