Police detain senior Congress leaders after their anti-demonetisation rally at CST
Congress leaders outside CST. Picture Courtesy: Aslam Khan
Mumbai police reportedly detained senior Congress leaders Ashok Chavan, Randeep Surjewala and Sanjay Nirupam among others for staging a protest against demonetisation at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on Wednesday.
The party had earlier sought permission to hold a demonstration outside the Reserve Bank of India office in Mumbai. However, after being denied permission by the police, they decided to protest outside CST instead.
The protest rally, which started around 12 pm, was attended by the party’s leaders and workers. The rally partially blocked the traffic movement outside Fort bus depot, despite heavy police presence.
The demonstration, headed by Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam, was attended by Narayan Rane, Suresh Shetty, Kripashankar Singh and other senior leaders.
The party had earlier announced its plan to start a nationwide campaign against demonetization, which included gheraoing RBI offices.
While making the announcement, Congress leaders had said that demonetisation had badly affected the Indian economy, resulted in job losses, pushed down production as well as hit the rural masses and farmers badly.
Maharashtra unit chief Ashok Chavan also said that the government had compromised the autonomy of the RBI as the central bank was kept in total darkness about the demonetisation decision.
Similar anti-demonetisation protests by the Congress were held across the country, including Delhi, Nagpur, Assam, Gujarat, J&K, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and many other cities.
While protesters at most places raised anti-government slogans against the spiking of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, things got out of hand in Nagpur where some workers tried to barge into the RBI building. The police had to resort to lathicharge to control the crowd.
