On 8th November at 8pm, the Indian Prime Minister Modi made the shock announcement that the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination notes will no longer be legal tender. India is a predominantly cash economy and these 2 denominations made up 86% of the cash in circulation. So in one stroke this decision sucked 86% liquidity out of the system.
Modi said that this is being done to tackle black money. And in turn it will also be a strike on counterfeit currency, terror funding. and will move India towards a cashless economy.
In days to follow, it has become evident that the motives may not be achieved by the way it is being done and that there was woeful lack of planning and foresight behind such a radical decision. Overnight it forced millions of ordinary and honest citizens to stand for hours together in bank and ATM queues. People found that they have to struggle to get access to their own money. Many people have died directly or indirectly as an effect of this policy.
There are many who support this move even though in most cases they have not been able to come up with sound reasons to do so.
As is the wont with many Modi 'Bhakts', they don't have the patience or the intellect for discussions based on sound facts and logic. They start getting angry and abusive and start branding the other side as 'Anti-national' , desh drohi. Ghaddar etc etc. End of discussion. They say - don't question or cast aspersions on what Modi does. Doing that is 'anti-national'.
This 'anti-national' tactic works very well when the discussion is on Muslims, Pakistan, the Indian Army, the politics of beef and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' etc.
In the 'demonetization' debates also they started off by branding anyone questioning this policy as 'Anti-national'. But after 10-12 days of the misery suffered by the common man, the 'anti-national' jibe is not working so well. In effect it appears as if that is directed towards the common man who is bearing the brunt of this. So they are toning it down.
The BJP/RSS/Sangh Parivar is a master when it comes to coming up with new jargon -some examples - puedo-secular, love-jihad, ghar wapsi, presstitute, sickular etc etc.
I heard a new one in a debate on demonetization today from a Modi 'Bhakt' - 'Keep Calm & Trust Modi'................
Another inventive and a less offensive way to say 'don't question this policy' and 'shut up'.
'Keep Calm & Trust Modi'..........ha ha .....very creative. Let's see how far this one goes !!
