Skip to main content

Punishing the Innocent


Ten days are over after the Prime Minister’s overnight reform of demonetisation.  There’s no sign of adequate valid currency reaching the people.  On the contrary, works are held up, workers go without money to buy food, medical treatments are affected, farmers are unable to buy seeds and cultivate their lands, those who have agricultural produce at home cannot sell them because traders don’t have valid money to pay...  How long does the country want this situation to prolong?

The Supreme Court has already expressed its apprehensions about possible riots in the country if adequate valid currency is not made available.  The country can’t expect people to die of starvation when they have their hard-earned money lying in the banks.

Moreover, do Indians deserve this situation?  80% of Indians live on less than Rs10,000 per month. They don’t have any black money.  But it is they who actually suffer from the current situation.  The innocent are punished.  The really guilty know how to get along whatever the situation.

One of the worst faces of the Modi government that has become conspicuous is that of insensitivity.  The Prime Minister is an excellent orator with a penchant for histrionics.  He knows how to appeal to the emotions of people.  And he makes that appeal in the name of patriotism which has already been equated with Hindutva.  This volatile mix of patriotism and religion has made Modi a demigod so much so anyone who questions Modi today is likely to be labelled as antinational.  Modi knows this and uses it effectively in announcing his dictatorial decisions such as the current demonetisation.  When people find out loopholes in the new system, more rigorous rules are applied such as limiting the amount that can be exchanged or withdrawn or branding the citizen with indelible ink.  Once again, innocent people are the ones who are really affected by such decisions and rules.  The criminals know how to get on whatever the system.  Modi government has displayed a tremendous lack of sensitivity towards the majority of people who are struggling to earn their livelihood or take out their own money from their accounts.

Modi can play on patriotic feelings and go ahead for some more days.  But neither patriotism nor religion will prove to be more overwhelming than hunger or fundamental inconveniences.  It’s time that valid currency was made available.  It’s time that people are allowed to live normal lives after demonetisation of certain denominations.  



Indian Bloggers

PS. Written for Indispire: #Demonetization

Comments

  1. The common man who is standing in the que, is struggling with other commoners. Supreme Court have said that these situations may cause riots. If riots do happen, then it won't be surprising if Modi Government blames the opposition and the media for it. After all, the commoners standing in the ques are patriots and they can never do such things.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ration ke upar bhashan bahut hai, lekin bhashan ke upar koi ration nahi. (from the mouth of Pran, in Upkar)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And you can't buy ration with the 2000 note which banks are giving generously.

      Delete
  3. There are initial problems in implementation. But, Demonetisation is Modiji's sincere intention to weed out corruption & blackmoney. There'll be economic benefits in the long run.
    Glad that crores of fake currency is out of the system. Also, terrorist activity funding is curtailed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sincerity is a matter of interpretation, Anita. If Ambani and Adani were indeed aware of the move beforehand, if BJP deposited crores beforehand... (as the links which I have given say), then sincerity is zilch. It's all politics. The simple fascist Hindutva politics which "Modiji" is an expert at playing.

      Delete
    2. Demonetization with this scale is a absolute must for today's date. We are probably curled up high on the earlier government and hence see Modi's tough decisions as politics. It is a very good move and unfortunately nothing to do with Hindutva or fascism. Best results are already showing up. terrorist activities are hit and also big blacl money hoarders are hit.

      Delete
    3. Of course, there's much good about it too. What I'm saying is that the bad sides could have been controlled much better had some homework been done.

      At the same time, I'm not naive enough to take it all as a very holy enterprise. Soon we'll have more reports coming about how certain sections of the population were prepared for such a move!

      Delete
    4. We too thought so, but definitely this strike was a ghostly surprise to most BJP leaders too. Secondly after closely studying Modi character, his abilities, achievements and hearing from relatives who lived in gujarath during 2002riots, we are overwhelmed by his selfless service and trust hes really the man may be in wrong party.

      Delete
  4. There have been many developments in last few days. Almost every day the government amends the policies since some people are misusing the existing ones. People stand in lines for hours only to be told that bank has run out of cash. While the intention of the government might be good, the realities are out of sync. Even though the policy ws meant for people with black money, its the ordinary person who is suffering. Some people have even made it a business as reported in newspaper. I hope that things improve else the game might turn ugly once the resentment among the people rise further.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The govt was not prepared, it seems. But given Modi's shrewdness it's impossible to imagine that unpreparedness. I think Modi is playing a big game: putting people into hell and checking how they react or respond. And a lot of people are biting the bait in the name of patriotism. I'm being given lectures comparing citizens with soldiers as Ramdev did. I find this comparison insulting to the soldiers who actually suffer much more.

      Delete
  5. The current premier of India is perhaps the most proficient marketing expert of the nation and perhaps of this era. He can sell combs to balds and refrigerators to Eskimos. His biggest achievement is development of a huge army of his devotees who have put him on a pedestal and enveloped him with the persona of God. This kind of brand value creation for self has been unprecedented. He has used the sentiment of patriotism to justify anything and everything done by him with grand success. Now he need not take on anybody. His blind supporters are sufficient to do it. He is a dictator but a very successful dictator who has developed the art of convincing the oppressed that the oppression is for his betterment only. And this isn't a small feat Sir. He is a role-model for any self-centred person who wants to make it big in life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have called the spade the spade, friend. Unless more and more people realise this truth, the country is going to face serious problems including a civil war.

      Delete
  6. नोटबंदी के बाद डिजिटल पेमेंट पर जोर, जानें क्या है डिजिटल पेमेंट
    Readmore Todaynews18.com https://goo.gl/BgzxC9

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prelude to AtoZ

  From Garden of 5 Senses, Delhi [file pic] Hindsight gives an unearthly charm and order to the past. There can be pain too. A lot of things could have been different, much better, if only we possessed the wisdom of our old age back in those days. As a writer put it, Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear and a lot of those guys must have thought, “I wish I had known this some time ago.” Life is a series of errors with intermittent achievements. The only usefulness of the errors may be the lessons they teach us. Probably, that is their purpose too. We are created to err so that we learn, I dare to put it that way. I turn 64 in a month’s time. It’s not inappropriate to look back at some of the people whom life brought into my life so that I would learn certain lessons. No, I don’t mean to say that life has any such purpose or design or anything. Life is absurd. People come into your life as haphazardly as vehicles ply on your road or birds poop on your head. Some of these people change the chemist

Why I won’t vote

From Deshabhimani , Malayalam weekly Exactly a month from today is the Parliamentary election in my state of Kerala. This time, I’m not going to vote. Bernard Shaw defined democracy , with his characteristic cynicism, as “ a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve .” We elect our government in a democracy. And the government invariably sucks our blood – whichever the party is. The BJP and the Congress are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee though the former makes all sorts of other claims day in and day out. BJP = Congress + the holy cow. The holy cow has turned out to be quite a vampire and that makes a difference, no doubt. In our Prime Minister’s algebra, it is: (a+b) 2 which should be equal to a 2 and b 2 . There is an extra 2ab which is the holy cow. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm , the animals revolt against the human master and set up their own nationalist republic. Soon politics develops in the republic and some pigs become leaders. The porcine

How Arvind Kejriwal can save himself

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have a clear vision. Eliminate all opposition. Decimate them or absorb them. My previous post [link below] showed a few people decimated by them. Today let’s look at the others: those who are saved by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]. 1. Himanta Biswa Sarma  This guy was in Congress and faced serious charges related to the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. He also faced corruption charges related to drinking water supply in Guwahati. His house was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI]. Then he switched over to BJP and all his crimes just vanished. It’s as simple as taking a dip in the Ganga and all your sins are forgiven. Today he is the chief minister of Assam. Nothing is heard of all the charges that were levelled against him. 2. Amarinder Singh  This former Captain in the Indian Army was a Congressman until Modi’s Enforcement Directorate [ED] started raiding him, his son and his son-in-law. He put an end to all those raid

The Good Old World

Book Review Title: Dukhi Dadiba and irony of fate Author: Dadi Edulji Taraporewala Translators: Aban Mukherji and Tulsi Vatsal Publisher: Ratna Books, Delhi, 2023 Pages: 314 If you want to return to the good old days of the late 19 th century, this is an ideal novel for you. This was published originally in Gujarati in 1913. It appeared as a serial before that from 1898 onwards in a periodical. The conflict between good and evil is the dominant motif though there is romance, betrayal, disappointment, regret, and pretty much of traditional morality. Reading this novel is quite like watching an old Bollywood movie, 1960s style. Ardeshir Bahadurshah, a wealthy Parsi aristocrat in Surat, dies having obligated his son Jehangir to find out his long-lost brother Rustom. Rustom was Bahadurshah’s son in his first marriage. The mother died when the boy was too small and the nurse who looked after the child vanished with it one day. Ratanmai, Bahadurshah’s present wife, takes her

Kejriwal’s Arrest in Modi’s Kurukshetra

For some mysterious reason, Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest reminded me of Haren Pandya. Maybe, because Pandya’s 21 st death anniversary is approaching (26 March). Have you forgotten Haren Pandya? He was the Home Minister of Gujarat before Narendra Modi assumed dictatorial powers in that state. Modi chose to teach humility to Pandya by making him the Minister of State for revenue. Pandya chose not to learn humility from Modi and resigned from that post in Aug 2002. Remember Gujarat of 2002? You should. A fire engulfed a train on 27 Feb 2002 killing 58 Hindu pilgrims who were returning from Ayodhya where they had gone to discover their god, not very unlike Christopher Columbus undertaking a voyage to discover India and messing it all up. What caused the fire in the train? Lord Ram knows probably. The upshot was that there was a riot in Gujarat by Hindus against Muslims. Haren Pandya is one of the BJP leaders who gave statements in many places indicting Modi for the riots. He asser