Pawan Kalyan targets RBI chief; dubs note ban a disaster

​Hyderabad: Popular Telugu actor and Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday came down heavily on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel and called demonetisation a disaster.

After a series of attacks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on issues ranging from beef ban to patriotism, Pawan tweeted on demonetisation.

In his six tweets, he repeatedly addressed RBI chief Patel and did not mention Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who announced the scrapping of high value notes on November 8.

The actor began by posting a picture of Patel with the remark ‘The man who opened Pandora's Box called demonetisation’. He also posted the picture of a man who died in the queue outside a bank in Andhra Pradesh.

“Mr Urjit Patel. This is late Sri Balaraju (from Kurnool, AP) one of the countless victims who lost their lives because of your well thought demonetization,” reads the caption.

Pawan, who had campaigned for the BJP-TDP alliance in 2014 elections, was bitter in his attack on demonetisation.

“Mr Urjit Patel, in a country like ours - where manual scavenging is still in existence even after 69 years of independent India - you want us to believe that cashless economy (will) work???”

“Mr Urjit Patel, your well thought demonetisation has disrupted the lives of crores of your fellow Indians who are adivasis, farmers, daily wage labourers, housewives, employees, senior citizens, vegetable and fruit vendors, construction workers, contract labourers, small businessmen and the list goes on and on,” the actor tweeted.

He further said that while the innocent and helpless were dying standing in queues, the “scoundrels of first order” were exchanging the plundered wealth of this nation sitting in the comfort of their homes.

“Mr Urjit Patel, you must be jumping with joy getting most of 86 percent cash deposited in your banks. And you may now proudly claim that black money has been wiped out,” he continued to tweet.

“But the truth is you have replaced the old ways with new ways. And the new kids on the block who have joined the existing group of plunderers are a percentage of the banking staff.”

“When the gap between what you know and what you think you know becomes dangerously wide... disasters of this magnitude will be created,” Pawan said, quoting from the book of scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb.