RBI meeting: Rahul Gandhi said PM Narendra Modi is "destroying institutions"

Highlights Congress accuses government of undermining RBI's autonomy

Key RBI board meeting is underway

Urjit Patel reportedly under pressure to ease rules

As the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board met in Mumbai today amid the central bank's public spat with the government over a range of subjects, Rahul Gandhi seized the chance to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet. "Hope Urjit Patel has a spine and will show PM his place," the Congress president tweeted shortly after the RBI board meeting began, referring to the RBI governor.

The Congress has been accusing the government of undermining the RBI's autonomy to gain control over its Rs 9 lakh crore reserves for development work ahead of state and national elections.

"The government is determined to 'capture' RBI in order to gain control over the reserves. The other so-called disagreements are only a smokescreen (sic)," former finance minister P Chidambaram of the Congress tweeted yesterday.

Mr Chidambaram wrote that "November 19 (today's meeting)" will be a day of reckoning for central bank independence and the Indian economy.

Mr Modi and his coterie of cronies, continue to destroy every institution they can get their hands on. Today, through his puppets at the #RBIBoardMeet he will attempt to destroy the RBI. I hope Mr Patel and his team have a spine and show him his place. - Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 19, 2018

Reports claim the government wants the central bank to part with a third of its reserves.

The government had denied seeking a massive capital transfer from the RBI, but had said it was discussing an "appropriate" size of capital reserves that the central bank must maintain.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg clarified that the government wasn't in any dire needs of funds and that there was no proposal to ask the RBI to transfer Rs 3.6 lakh crore.

The Congress has also accused the government of trying to force RBI governor Urjit Patel's exit for not being pliant. "If Patel decides to resign over its (RBI) differences with the central government, it will be a very sad and bad for the Indian economy. It will also send a bad signal to global markets just as (ex-RBI governor) Raghuram Rajan's exit did," former union minister Veerappa Moily told the Press Trust of India.