Congress labels Urjit Patel a 'gentleman' after calling him a 'captive puppet' during DeMo

After Urjit Patel resigned as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Congress accused the Narendra Modi-led NDA government of interfering with the independence of the RBI.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala immediately took to Twitter where he slammed the ruling BJP for "RBI Governor's unceremonious exit". He said:

Integrity of another institution -RBI, stands denigrated by a tyrannical Modi regime as reflected in RBI Governor’s unceremonious exit.

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Economic anarchy, compromising India’s monetary policies & attempting to stifle RBI’s independence by Govt appointed puppets is the DNA of BJP!

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) December 10, 2018

Dr Patel may have thought that government will re-trace its steps. I knew it would not. Good he quit before another humiliating meeting.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) December 10, 2018

Back then, the Congress had labelled Patel a "captive puppet" of the government in the aftermath of demonetisation.

While organising protests against demonetisation in major metro cities, Surjewala had told media persons, “Instead of playing the role of an independent monetary regulator and pushing for economic growth the RBI has become a post office simply following the diktats of Modi Government. Patel has been reduced to a captive puppet.”

Similarly, when all but 0.7 percent of the junked currency returned, Chidambaram had lambasted the RBI Governor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the futility of the exercise through a series of tweets:

RBI 'gained' Rs 16000 crore, but 'lost' Rs 21000 crore in printing new notes! The economists deserve Nobel Prize.

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— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 30, 2017

Rs 16000 cr out of demonetised notes of Rs 1544,000 cr did not come back to RBI. That is 1%. Shame on RBI which 'recommended' demonetisation

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 30, 2017

In fact, Congress MP Veerappa Moily, who headed the Standing Committee which questioned Urjit Patel on demonetisation, today told media persons, “This is something that can’t be allowed. But they don’t want any independent institution. He (Patel) was only waiting before he sent his resignation. No gentleman, no RBI governor who is an economist with some stature, no economist worth his name can function under this government. This is so very clear from this resignation.”