Why Tushar Gandhi wants Bapu's photo removed from currency notes

Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi sarcastically asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Government of India (GoI) “to remove Bapu’s photo from currency notes”.  

The RBI rolled out India’s digital currency, CBDC (e₹-R) in early December. Tushar Gandhi took a strong exception against it for omitting Mahatma Gandhi’s photo from the newly introduced e-note. Striking a sarcastic note, he expressed his disappointment on Twitter.  

Earlier in October, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sparked a controversy after he appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha printed on new currency notes along with Mahatma Gandhi's photo.  

Also Read: RBI comes out with Digital Rupee: Is it like Bitcoin, and should you invest in it?

With the idea of reshaping India's cash-dependent economy, this December, the moved to draw attention from physical cash to digital rupee/currency/e-rupee. Earlier this month, the RBI launched the pilot for digital currency in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar.  

According to the RBI, the eRupee is in the form of a digital token that constitutes legal tender and would offer "features of physical cash like trust, safety, and settlement finality".