Why Narendra Modi seem to have completely lost the plot
Are you sure, Modi jii? All this agonizing exercise only to create a cashless economy? Or maybe, you was trying to punch above your weight and now may need to eat the humble pie
37 days into nation’s fateful tryst with demonetization, Prime Minster Narendra Modi and his government appear to be clueless at the outcome.
What is hurting people most is that despite all the chest-thumping and breast-beating and melodramatic speeches and appeals, what appears is that maybe the Modi regime had no idea whatsoever in which soup they were stepping into on November 8, and this raise questions in the minds of the people that can we even trust this regime anymore and have faith in its capability of running such a vast nation as India?
Narendra Modi had asked for 50 days. He in a very Bollywood like manner has also stated that if all is not well even after this time period then nation can punish him on any crossroad. Well, as the destined date is approaching, I don’t think Modi jii will be looking forward to get his public humiliation. No wonder recently he has stopped talking about “black money” and has started to raise the pitch for “cashless economy.” Are you sure, Mr. Prime Minister? All this agonizing exercise only to create a cashless economy? Or maybe, you was trying to punch above your weight and now are forced to eat the humble pie.
What will you show on your report card to the nation, by the way, when the 50 days deadline will be over, and believe me, it will be over in no time.
Because the fact remains that no matter what the Union government does and no matter how many notes RBI prints, there is no way they can fill up the cash crunch that was created by government itself. As there appears to be no lump sum of black money returning back to RBI, as there appears to be no rich man suffering and no poor man making merry, not in a big enough way, well, its time for government to get nervous as elections in Uttar Pradesh loom large. No government wants to be unpopular facing a crucial election and no government has ever got popular by making their own citizens suffer for absolute nothing, and punishing them big time in endless serpentine queues.
Reports have it that at the current rate, it will take between 122 to 212 days to print enough Rs 500 notes only. The demonetization had scrapped 86% of effective currency. But RBI data indicate that If government wants to introduce Rs 9 lakh crore in new currency notes, then it will take up to May 2017, and if it wants to reintroduce the entire Rs 14 lakh crore value notes that it had scrapped, that could take up to August 2017. The RBI has four note presses at Dewas, Nashik, Salboni and Mysuru but even if all their machines work to their full capacity, the demand for the new notes is not going to be met. After all it is no joke to fill up the gape of 86% cash notes for a thriving economy of 1.2 billion people, in just a few days, on a short notice, on a whim, to be precise.
Poor implementation. Poor vision. Poor imagination and lackluster connect with the ground reality. The lofty and baseless things Prime Minister has been saying in his speeches ever since the D-day, also set a sinking feeling in our hearts. Here is a man whose primary source of information could well be Whatsapp and Twitter, a man who lives in a bubble and is capable of taking huge decisions with massive implications. So after full 37 days of demonetization, what hurts people most is not the sheer suffering that is unleashed on them, but this very consciousness that they are maybe subjected to a senseless whim and their leader was not even fully aware of what he was doing. This is enough to give the nation a jolt of heavy foreboding.