Urjit Patel taken to safety by security personnel after he was heckled by Congress workers in Kolkata.
On a day Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress declared that the Central government's currency ban had resulted in nearly a hundred deaths, Urijit Patel, governor of the Reserve Bank of India or RBI, came within an inch of being manhandled at the Kolkata airport by angry Congress workers.
Mr Patel had just reached the airport around 6 pm to fly out of the city when he was met by angry Congress workers bearing black flags. As the mob threatened to swamp him, Mr Patel's security staff just about managed to rush him into the airport with some difficulty.
Mr Patel had visited Kolkata for a board meeting at the RBI's regional office this morning. He paid Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a routine courtesy call in the afternoon. During the meeting at government secretariat Nabanna, Ms Banerjee, an angry critic of the currency ban, spoke her mind.
"He was silent most of the time ....but I got an opportunity to tell him what people are feeling," she told the media after he left, adding, "The RBI is an autonomous body and should not be used for misused for politics."
Ms Banerjee also said, "The double dhamaka of demonetisation has put GST in cold storage."
She also gave Mr Patel and two page letter and a three-page memorandum in which she said the currency ban -- meant to flush out black money and stop terror funding through counterfeiting -- was a "cruel misadventure".
Alleging that there are serious concerns about political discrimination against states, she said the RBI should not be "misused or used politically". "We expect you to stand up against this demonetization ...rather than falling silent and remaining opaque," she added.
Earlier in the day, the Left and the Trinamool had found common ground -- on the streets before RBI's regional office -- to protest against Mr Patel.
Ms Banerjee's party today had put out a list of demonetization deaths - putting the figure at 97. Seven of the deaths were from West Bengal. On that list was 52-year-old Kallol Roy Chowdhury, a state government employee who suffered a heart attack as he stood in line for cash at an ATM on December 3. Mamata Banerjee has promised his wife a job.
People have died across the country due to the cash ban, the Trinamool claims. Among them, retired CRPF soldier Rakesh Yadav who shot himself after failing to get money from banks and ATMs for daily expenses.