Demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley withdraw the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill 2017, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Tuesday said it will affect the common man who has already been hit owing to demonetisation and Goods and Service Tax.
“I will call a meeting of Congress MPs from Karnataka and ask them to oppose the FRDI Bill when it comes up for debate in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. I demand that the Prime Minister and Finance Minister withdraw it immediately,” he told presspersons here.
Terming the FRDI Bill disastrous for the common man, he said: “The Bill provides for a bail-in, which allows the financial institution to cancel a liability owed by the bank or change the form of an existing liability to another security. In essence, the government is allowing these institutions to appropriate our assets and there is no recourse for the same.”
“People worst affected by this will not be the rich, but the rest for whom having their money appropriated or even tied up in a fixed deposit can cause severe economic hardship,” Mr. Rao said.
“We urge the Joint Committee of Parliament, which is reviewing the Bill, to kindly reconsider allowing such a draconian provision. Provisions like these will not only erode the people’s trust in the financial system, but also lead to speculation, panic and fear, which could trigger a cataclysmic economic downturn like what we saw in the U.S.,” he said.