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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 18
Workers of the Haryana and Chandigarh Congress held demonstration today at Sector 17 before the office of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) opposing the demonetisation decision of the Narendra Modi Government.
Earlier, the workers were addressed by senior Congress leaders, including Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, Rajiv Shukla, Anand Bhaskar Ropulo , Viplove Thakur, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ajay Yadav, Manoj Chauhan and Chandigarh Congress president Pardeep Chhabra.
In the protest, the police also used water cannons in which 10 Congress workers got injured.
The protest was organised as a part of a nationwide protest against demonetisation with party workers gheraoing the Reserve Bank of India offices at several locations. The leaders also submitted a memorandum to the RBI officers.
Senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said the “wheel of development” had come to a standstill as crores of people were lining up in front of the banks and ATMs for the last 70 days by giving up their day-to-day livelihood. What is tragic is that these never-ending lines are for withdrawing one’s own hard-earned money, he said.
Anand Bhaskar Ropulo said demonetisation had turned out to be a surgical strike on India’s poor, farmers, labour, shopkeepers, small businesses, middle class and the entire unorganised sector.
Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar said “The Modi government’s and the RBI’s decision not to lift the weekly withdrawal restrictions of Rs 24,000 is cruel joke on the people of India”.
Accusing the government of destroying the RBI’s autonomy, former Union Minister Pawan Bansal said, “The RBI, instead of playing the role of an independent monetary regulator and a key denominator of economic growth, has become a mere post office following the diktats of the Modi government like a captive puppet”.
Chandigarh Congress president Pardeep Chhabra said demonetisation only benefitted a few people while a majority suffered.
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