Former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said that the abolition of the RBI bond is another "cruel blow" and all citizens must demand that it must be restored immediately.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said, "Government has dealt another blow to citizens who save, especially senior citizens. It has discontinued the 7.75 per cent RBI Bonds. Government did this once before in Jan 2018. I protested vehemently. Next day they re-introduced the bond but reduced the interest rate from 8 per cent to 7.75 per cent."

He added, "Effectively, after tax, the bond will yield only 4.4 per cent. That is now taken away. Why? I deplore this action."

Chidambaram said that every government is bound to provide at least one safe, risk-free investment option to its citizens. "It was the RBI bond since 2003," he wrote.

In another post, he added, "After lowering the interest rates in PPF and small savings instruments, the abolition of the RBI Bond is another cruel blow. All citizens must demand that the RBI Bond must be restored immediately."

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