Bank Association urges centre to remove Gurumurthy from RBI Board

CHENNAI: Following the controversial remarks made by RBI Board Member and RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy on the employees of public sector banks, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has urged the union government to remove Gurumurthy from the RBI Board.

"In a function in Chennai on May 8 in the presence of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Gurumurthy, a Director in RBI Board made a dirty and derogatory comment that public sector bank employees are scums and filths. We strongly condemn his uncalled for comments and demand his immediate apology. He is unfit to be on the Board of RBI and the government should remove him from this important post", said CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA, in a statement.

The controversial comments were made by Gurumurthy at an anniversary function of a Tamil magazine in which Nirmala Sitharaman was the special guest. Gurumurthy, in his address, said that "efficient persons have moved out of the public sector banks due to pressure and only useless persons are now in the banks".

The video of Gurumurthy speaking ill about the employees of public sector banks went viral on social media following which AIBEA condemned. "Everyone knows the naked love of Gurumurthy for private corporations to get their favours. But he has no right to condemn bank employees of public sector banks," Venkatachalam noted.

The speech was also condemned by VCK MP D Ravikumar who questioned the silence of Nirmala Sitharaman in the meeting. "Gurumurthy spoke ill about the employees of public sector banks in the presence of the union finance minister and it is highly condemnable. Though the Finance Minister nodded her head as a mark of objection to listening to the speech, why did not she condemn the speech", asked Ravikumar.

However, Nirmala Sitharaman, in her speech, appreciated the work of public sector bank employees especially their work during the pandemic. Quoting the lines, Ravikumar said that though Nirmala Sitharaman spoke highly of bank employees she should have condemned Gurumurthy on the spot for his derogatory comments.