Left parties in Kerala demand help for cooperative banks which have been forced to shut operations.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his ministers marched to the office of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday and sat on protest against the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.
The ruling Left-led coalition has demanded help for cooperative banks, which they say have been forced to shut operations in Kerala as part of the government's demonetisation drive.
Around 66 cooperative banks in the state are under the RBI but more than 1,600 such banks or societies are under the state.
The state government is demanding that these cooperative banks, which are largely used by villagers, should be allowed to exchange or dispense cash.
"Cooperatives do not protect black money... rather the common people's deposits are protected. The government has failed to give and provide optional measures for people after announcing demonetisation. Primary banks are very efficient and should not have been stopped. This is a political conspiracy," Pinarayi Vijayan said.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, "We won't accept PM Modi's fascist, anarchic move through which he thinks he can control people's lives. It's the people who are sovereign according to our constitution."
A day before, it the opposition Congress had protested against the currency ban.
Kerala has over 1,500 primary cooperative banks with deposits of about Rs 1,37,000 crore, of which roughly 80 per cent is given as loan for agriculture, weddings and homes. Deposits of up to Rs 25 lakh are allowed without PAN details.
Several cooperative banks and societies in Kerala are headed by politicians with strong party affiliations; CPM men are believed to run the maximum number of such banks, followed by the Congress.
"The government has completely failed in its objectives and motives. It's a fiscal failure and the RBI governor should resign for the complete mismanagement," said CP john, the president of the Co-operative bank (just bank is fine too, he us both - president of bank, as well as union) and a member of the Congress-led opposition coalition told NDTV.