D Raja: PMC Bank scam a failure of financial sector under Modi govt

At a time when the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) workers are agitated and are demanding their money back, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman acknowledged the customers. She assured them that she will once again speak with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, but this has not gone down well within the left party.

Former parliamentarian and Leader of the Communist Party of India D Raja slammed the Central Government saying that the ruling dispensation under the leadership of Narendra Modi has completely failed in the financial sector.

"Firstly, all these scams once again prove that the present government headed by Mr. Modi has been failing to manage the finance sector particularly the banking sector. Scams like PMC scam and other loots took place in banks, now the government has announced the merger of banks to help the corporate houses in the name of ease of doing business. This is co-operative Bank and the ordinary people and their very hard-earned money has been deposited, now they are not able to take back their money," said D Raja.

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Actions must be taken against the looters

Former Member of Parliament, Mr. Raja said that our main concern is that people should get back their money and actions must be taken against the looters.

"Why this scam took place? Who failed? Who ate the guilty? All these questions must be answered and govt should effectively intervene, I don't know what powers the RBI has today. Whether RBI has autonomous power to deal with this situation, I have no idea about this. If the finance minister has directed the Reserve Bank then what's the timeframe, what's the intervention RBI is going to do because my concern is people should get their money. Looters must not go scot-free and the law must take it's course," added D Raja.

Finance Minister on October 10 held a meeting with the agitated PMC banks customer and after the meeting, Nirmala Sitharaman addressed a press conference where she assured that she will speak to RBI governor on urgency regarding the matter.

"The finance ministry may have nothing to do with it directly because RBI is the regulator of cooperative banks. But, I've asked the secretaries of my ministry to work with the rural development ministry and urban development ministry to study in detail as to what is happening. Representatives of RBI will also be there to understand shortcomings, what happened and also to therefore, if necessary, look at the ways in which the respective acts will have to be amended," she said.

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