Pritam's Blog
An Unstatesmanly Remark By A Statesman
Although supporters of BJP and especially the Prime Minister are going gaga over Narendra Modi taking a dig at the former Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha last week, what really needs to be debated is whether it was really Manmohan Singh who was slammed by PM Modi. Or was it the Prime Minister who, with his language and unjustified claims, had actually dug his own grave?
PM Modi attacked the former Prime Minister, who, as PM Modi himself said, has been directly associated with the economic decisions of the country for half of the country’s 70 years of independence, for describing demonetization as “organized loot” and “legalized plunder” in November 2016. This, the Prime Minister found to be offensive, and said that Singh knew “the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on” because despite all the scams during Singh’s tenure, there is no blot on him.
The attack, however, began with an irrelevant mention of a book recently published for which Mr Singh had written the forward. PM Modi said that he had thought that Mr Singh might have made some contribution to the book, but found out that Mr Singh had just written the forward. Then PM Modi, with his choice of playful words, hinted that he “felt the same” with Mr Singh’s speech from November 2016. All these created an uproar in Rajya Sabha and the Opposition walked out.
The Prime Minister, in his defense for demonetization said that the fight against corruption and black money is not a political fight; it is not a fight to bother any particular political party. However, it doesn’t seem so as demonetization was imposed only months before elections in Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. This, added with the fact that since the note ban a large number of BJP members (in fact, mostly BJP members) were caught with currency worth lakhs of rupees in new currency notes, only makes the Prime Minister’s remarks more questionable.
The Prime Minister also proudly mentioned about a currency note forfeiter from the “enemy country” committing suicide because of demonetization. However, he ignored talking about the deaths of the common Indians (more than 100) due to demonetization, an issue raised by Mr Singh in November. Instead, PM Modi boasted about the government and the public being together for the first time. He said that the public is supporting the demonetization policy. “We should be proud, that you were inconvenienced and we can tell the world that the people of this country might be illiterate but this is a country where everyone wants to get out of their oppressions,” the Prime Minister said while ignoring the reality.
PM Modi also spoke about how cashless economy will benefit the common people, especially the workers of the unorganized sector. There is no denying to the fact that a cashless economy would help curb the exploitation of poor people, especially the ones working in the unorganized sector, where payment is made in cash, and a lot of cut is made in the process. A cashless economy will help in reducing exploitation in the unorganized sector because everybody will have bank accounts through which payment of, say wages will be made. This will result in more transparency, and no scope for unaccounted cuts.
However, this couldn’t be a justification for imposing demonetization as the way it was implemented brought more trouble to the workers in the unorganized sectors than good. As Sitaram Yechury pointed out now they are not even getting their wages as there is a dearth of currency notes. According to a study conducted by All India Manufacturers’ Organization, which represents 3 lakh micro, small scale, and medium and large scale manufacturing and export industries, demonetization has resulted in 35% job losses. What could have made the demonetization scheme not a ‘monumental mismanagement’ was its implementation after ensuring everybody, especially workers in the unorganized sectors, had bank accounts, and were in a position to use cards.
Mr Singh, in his speech in November, had highlighted these issues, the problems the common publics are suffering due to demonetization. He didn’t disagree to the objectives of the policy, which as the government had said was “to curb black money, to prevent growth of forfeited currency notes, and also to help in control of terrorist finance activity.” He pointed out the mismanagement in the policy’s implementation by the government which has caused sufferings of the common public.
In response, PM Modi attacked the former Prime Minister and renowned economist with his ‘raincoat’ remark, and justified demonetization without properly substantiating his claims and addressing the issues.
It seemed like there is no difference between the Prime Minister and the ‘cybergoondas’ we encounter every time we express our opinion on social media. Both of them are known for their trolling and bullying skills. The Prime Minister does it even in the Parliament, and that’s not at all a statesman-like attitude. And sooner or later, people will realize it.