Demonetization, Demonization and the Day after Tomorrow

  

#Demonetization happened yesterday. Today, #demonization is taking place. And are we going to see #TheDayAfterTomorrow?

On a pleasant Tuesday evening, when people were just ready to have dinner or taking it easy, switching on their TV, glancing through the news channels in between their serials, some checking out their Twitters and Facebook account, being shown that #USElections2016 is taking place. #Trump is soon going to come out to vote, #Hillary might just turn up in sometime. Diwali, Dusshera had just gone by. #NDTVBan just got reversed. Hillary should be winning. I don’t know, it could be anything. Elections are so much fun. Let’s see who wins. Life in India seemed normal. Banal, some might add. Boring, as usual. Kicking along as always. And then #Modi just happened.

#Mitron, #MereDeshVasiyon, #BhaiyonAurBehenon,

#Demonetization #BlackMoneyOver

You just got #ModiFied

Regards

@narendramodi @PMOIndia

#AchcheDin #ThugLife #LikeABoss #OopsIDidItAgain

The Prime Minister was being aired live. He was explaining his move and how it was done in national interest. The immediate reaction that reflected on the social media was of joy, celebration, vindication, victory, ecstasy, elation and all things positive. But there was also another reaction reflecting on the ground, one of caution, despair, destruction, loss, doom, and all things negative. This sense on the ground was looming somewhere in the background, in the heart of hearts.

But the mood was set. So was the move. Notes are going to get defunct and so are some of the propagandas and agendas. Media as usual, nowadays, is stunned and taken aback. Modi made the news and did not even give them the time to frame a report. They, for once, were doing a diligent job of reporting and not opinionating. Media was as perplexed as the fragmented political opposition. Modi set the tone of the debate, i.e. national interest. #CounterfeitCurrency #TerrorismFunding #BlackMoney were cited as a reason for this sudden declaration. For the next two days, everybody is playing the wait and watch game. There is a strong reason yet naïve argument to believe that this wait-and-watch approach of the opposition was because they were perhaps buckled into working their options out. The other strong yet meaningful argument could be that they were assessing as how to how the nation would respond. To their dismay, they are left picking up the pieces of the #GlassCeiling that was shattered so fine, that they cannot find a piece big enough to bleed themselves and cry foul. That brings us to the aspect of #demonization.

#KuchTohLogKahengey

So what are these opposition parties and critics doing? They are literally picking as many minute and small pieces of the broken glass as they can find and will eventually end up swallowing them. The counter demonization of the demonetization has such strong and deep rooted narrative, that the opposition would sooner than later succumb to it. The narrative that if you oppose the policy, you are a #Naysayer #AntiNational #Corrupt #SoldOut

#AgainstNationalInterest #BlackMoneyHoarder #HawalaDar has somewhere caught the imagination of the general public. They are standing in the long infinite queues yet not complaining about the demonetization. They know that it’s a scourge which has ridden this nation since time immemorial

and it needed to be addressed. The goalposts have been shifted. The politically correct thing to say is that black money should be eradicated, the truth, however, is that no one can openly say that they are ruined because their black money has suffered. One is only hoping and waiting that someone would break the shackles of this #PoliticalCorrectness and address the elephant in the room. If you do, the needle of suspicion points right at your misdeeds. Opposition, hence is not left with much. Opposing the policy without its understanding would be suicidal. The opposition and critics are only left with trying to fan the issues as to the dearth of liquidity in the market and inconvenience it has caused to people who do not have bank accounts or smart money.

It is pertinent to mention that one cannot blindly condone and justify the deaths that have taken place in this process. It is in fact something for the government to ponder over and introspect on. But one can only take a deep sigh of relief to the effect that these unfortunate incidents are not emanating as a larger riot like situation in a particular place with particular kind of people. Hence, it is somewhere safe to develop an understanding that the nation, by and large has accepted the policy of demonetization, despite being heckled and buckled by its implementation. The problems that middle class is facing is a fundamental one. In fact, propelling this shortcoming of easy replacement of notes and arguing giving sufficient time for people to prepare themselves for such a major change has not appealed to the public in general to take arms and declare this as a situation of financial emergency. Can the argument of the inconvenience of a common man cannot beat the inconvenience of quietly suffering and laying helplessly to the black money economy. Unfortunately, the reel that is being played out by the opposition is whether this #CrisisOfCurrency will ever end or not. Or is this the end of the world as we know.

 #TheDayAfterTomorrow

The government seems to be monitoring the situation and the markets by every passing minute and are very dynamic in addressing any issue which they did not anticipate as expected. Be it reduction of cash withdrawal, acceptance of notes in the courts and other public agencies, extending the old currency notes for the farmers, opening the banks on a Sunday, some relief to exclusive day for senior citizens, in the end one cannot blame the government of being lackadaisical or laidback in its reforms of the implementation. Of course, one might question the whole #Surprise quotient that the government tries to raise its bar by every given incident of national importance, but better still no one questions the #Intent. The real assessment and criticism should be whether this temporary problem of cashlessness especially for those people who do not have black money is more grave than the parallel unaccounted black money economy which has denied those very people a fair and equal opportunity to employment, property, prosperity for as long as their memory serves them right.

There is no that shadow of doubt that a sudden and knee jerk reaction looks ugly. It is certainly painful. It will have its impact. It will indeed have its side effects. Just like chemotherapy. You are never mentally prepared as a human being to be ridden with a disease as deadly as cancer, let alone its treatment. The disease only spreads and the predictable inevitability of it is common knowledge. If at all there is any chance or hope of survival, Chemotherapy will be central to any such treatment. Chemotherapy is very painful, has very severe side effects, makes the patient weak, yet the patient quietly handles all of it for the larger picture. That this phase will soon pass and a ray of hope to live a healthier and good life is somewhere around the corner. Chemotherapy alone cannot do more than a personal hope and pledge to get better. One loses health, sleep, hair, energy temporarily yet no one complains that it is against their interest of silently dying to cancer. Demonetization, just like Chemotherapy, is sudden, will have its side effects, will make one weak, will give pain, and the only way to come out victorious through this battle against a cancer of black money would be to take this bitter treatment in right spirit and not lose hope. Our great nation is doing just that. No one is complaining that they were better off with cancer. Everybody is complaining that chemotherapy could have been less painful. That is where the opposition, critics and even the Supreme Court for that matter should be careful in its observations. Kindly avoid depressing the patient further with your narrative. The patient and the public of India have decided to live and fight. So pick those little pieces of glass and help the government in cleaning the setup.

Because till the time they see an effective and efficient redressal of the issues in hand, the policy is welcomed. The public has braced itself and are playing an equal romantic in the story. As the famous urdu couplet goes:

Ibtda-e-ishq hai, rota hai kya

Aagey aagey dekhiye, hota hai kya

                                                                                                               Mir Taqi Mir

(Translation :

‘Tis only just begun, this love,

So don’t be dismayed yet

There’re more trials to come,

More challenges to be met)

All the images used in the blog have been downloaded from Google Images.