Launching a sharp attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Wednesday said that on the 143rd birth anniversary of the country's first home minister Sardar Patel, the institutional undermining of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is a betrayal to his legacy.
Taking to his Twitter handle, Patel accused the Centre of "systematically" dismantling several public institutions in the last five years, adding that their existence is a "grave challenge to democracy".
"Sardar Patel's legacy draws from his remarkable ability to strengthen institutions. On his birth anniversary the institutional undermining of the RBI is a betrayal to his legacy," he added
"Several institutions successive governments helped build over the last 70 yrs are being systematically dismantled by the present government in just five years. Their inherent objective is to extinguish any kind of autonomy beyond their realm. The existence of this government is a grave challenge to democracy," Patel tweeted.
The senior Congress leader's comments came after the Finance Ministry clarified earlier today that the government holds "extensive consultations with the RBI from time to time," amid some media reports claiming that the central bank's governor Urjit Patel might resign after an alleged rift with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
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Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, said that the inauguration of the 'Statue of Unity' in Gujarat on the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Patel is a "stunt", adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing politics.
"We respected Sardar Patel ji first, so I don't want to comment much on this. But I can tell that Modi ji is doing politics, creating confusion and diverting from issues as he's facing several problems. Let's see how people react in 2019 and I hope they take a sensible decision. In all states, all leaders who fought and sacrificed for the country; why did you not remember them? Why did your party, your RSS organisation not remember them for nearly 70 years? This is only a stunt," Mallikarjun said.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the 182-metre tall Statue of Unity as a tribute to the iconic freedom fighter, Sardar Patel.
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