Mamata Appeals to Urjit’s Conscience, Asks Him to Break 'Silence' And 'Opacity'

Kolkata: In a letter handed over to RBI governor Urjit Patel in person, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged the former to “stand up against demonetisation onslaught against common people of the nation at this moment of crisis, rather than falling silent and remaining opaque”.

The letter referred to the aftermath of note ban as a “cruel misadventure of demonetisation”.

The two-page letter, alongside a memorandum from the government -- which outlined the crisis faced by various sectors in the state -- was submitted during a meeting between Patel and Banerjee at the state secretariat, Nabanna on Thursday afternoon.

The meeting was held post the RBI board meet at the institution’s regional headquarters in Kolkata. The Nabanna meeting was also attended by the state finance minister, Amit Mitra, and some state senior state officials including chief secretary, Basudeb Banerjee.

“We would also like to know from you the nature of allocation of new currency to each of the states in a spirit of transparency and accountability, since there are serious concerns of political discrimination against the states,” the letter further read.

In a significant break from tradition, Patel refused to meet the Press after the RBI board meet and never took questions from reporters during his exit from Nabanna.

Banerjee, however, later qualified the meeting as “positive”. “At least I could voice the concern of the masses of this country to him because the Prime Minister is unavailable and the Parliament is not functioning,” she said and added, “He listened to us and was largely silent during the course of the meeting.”

While gauging the impact of demonetisation, the chief minister said, “It is because of this demonetisation fiasco that the implementation of GST has been pushed to the backburner.”

Earlier in the day, even as Patel attended the RBI board meet in the city, both the Left and the Trinamool Congress demonstrated outside the regional headquarters of the institution in central Kolkata demanding extension of note submission deadline and adequate supply of currency at ATMs and banks.

Only a week ago, Banerjee had criticized Patel for “remaining silent” in the wake of demonetisation and for “not declaring the state-wise allocation of new currency notes”.