For good days: The poor have revealed surprising support for Mr Modi’s move.

THERE are two aspects to the currency swap for high denomination notes, one economic pertaining to ferret out black money and get more people to use digital transfers and the other political, particularly in its timing.On the economic side, it is a bold move of PM Narendra Modi, a task first tried by the short-lived Janata Party government of which the BJP’s parent Jana Sangh was part. It was unable to follow through, given its own convulsions. With a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the present administration can take the risks. But even given the need for secrecy in  such an undertaking, the move could have been better prepared, given the people’s daily needs.Politically, it has given the Opposition parties the opportunity to unite on an issue that cuts across party lines. But coming as the new measures do on the eve of crucial Assembly elections in UP and Punjab, it can have devastating effect on all parties. It is no secret that each party collected piles of cash for persuading voters to press the right button. Now they have to start the process all over again, with inevitable shortfalls.For waning parties such as the Congress, the money swapping issue leading to long queues at ATMs, many of them not calibrated to new currency, and the inevitable tribulations of small undertakings, the measure was a godsend. Mr Rahul Gandhi in particular was vocal.How far the political aspects influenced the move has yet to be discovered, but the administration’s suggestion for state funding of elections is a moot point. And in a sense, after the turmoil is over, it will be a topic for debate.The Modi government has also announced that other measures to reduce, if not stop, corruption are being readied or are in offing. While the country will wish the government well, it is a universal experience that such a task to tackle an endemic problem is a lifetime undertaking. As if to mock the new measures, the big fat Reddy wedding was a reminder of the ability of the rich to raise mountains of cash, with the demonetisation of high currency notes presenting few problems.Despite the inevitable sob stories and personal hardships caused by demonetisation TV channels have been feasting on, my questioning of poor and humble folk has revealed surprising support for Mr Modi’s move. Many of them seem to be convinced by the argument that this will help bring down the use of black money.The Modi move has obvious wider political considerations. The PM is not short of ambitions for himself and the country in that order. If he has shown boldness in pursuing the country’s interest despite missteps, he has an equally radical agenda for domestic policy where it counts the most.The BJP’s short-term objective is to capture UP in the forthcoming Assembly elections. With an open war being enacted in the Yadav family empire, the political barometer was pointing in the direction of Ms Mayawati’s BSP, but the new problems in distributing largesse will affect it as it will the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party. The Congress is a small player in UP as it is being marginalised in the rest of the country.The BJP’s strategy in UP prior to the currency move was to emphasise its “surgical strike” on Pakistani targets after the Uri attack to wear the colour of nationalism even as it heightened its move for Hindutva to divide voters along communal lines by raising the Ram janmabhoomi issue. It was betting on the possibility that with the disillusionment of Muslim voters with the Samajwadi Party, their tendency would be to go to the BSP even while the Congress was seeking Brahmin votes.If the BJP’s new calculations are right, the UP elections will be on a less extravagant scale this time round. But the fine tuning of the party’s strategy has yet to evolve in the light of the new political dynamics released by the currency issue. While the Opposition parties will harp on the sufferings of the common man and the lack of adequate preparation for such a bold measure, the common man may be more in sympathy with the official line that it is more for the benefit of the poor.Among the opposition parties, Ms Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress and her counterpart in Delhi, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, chose to take over the leadership of opposing the measure for different reasons. The TMC is on the lookout for a wider national role after having vanquished the Marxist Communist Party. And Mr Kejriwal will espouse any issue to beat the Modi government with, apart from his search for a wider setting to fulfil his personal ambitions.The success of the new monetary measure will depend upon how quickly it will relieve the genuine sufferings of the small trader, labour working in the field and the farmers’ planting regime. A wider dispensation of Rs 500 notes would help. The fact that such a major move will cause disruption is a foregone conclusion.Mr Modi is good at fixing targets for himself and the nation. He has asked for 50 days to fix the currency problem in emotional appeals he made two days running. As usual, he mixed his appeals with his known political themes and even made time for a UP election rally.Much rests on the overall success of the currency measure in determining the immediate fate of the Modi government. It will depend principally on how fast the administration can act to bring the situation back to normal. Government machinery is revving up, but whether it will prove equal to the task remains to be seen.In a sense, Mr Modi has given the warning that his aspiration is to become a memorable Prime Minister although he shuns the maker of modern democratic India, Jawaharlal Nehru. He could however aspire to equal Indira Gandhi, who won her spurs by defeating Pakistan in the Bangladesh war.

Infallible leaders? Blame it on the bhakts

Salil Desai
There is a very thin line between the use and abuse of power. It is not adulation, but criticism that keep people in power from crossing the line. In fact, bhakti makes political leaders believe in their own infallibility, inflates their self-opinion as men or women of destiny, born to create history and, inevitably, leads them to take missteps

WHEN  one reads about the rise of many 20th-century authoritarian regimes in history, there are two questions that confound you. How did entire nations and populations allow themselves to be so hypnotised by a person or a political party? Moreover, how did they permit leaders or regimes to take absolute control over the State and then chip away at their liberties one by one, so that they could hold sway with an iron grip for decades thereafter?The process is even more inexplicable and intriguing in countries that were once democracies. We are not talking of military coups or civil wars here. We are talking of democratic takeovers of power, which eventually degenerated into authoritarian reigns, even if for a short period of time. In the wake of the twin surgical strikes  — across the LOC and now demonetisation — when one sees the prevailing atmosphere, one wonders if this is how the process begins unfolding. Where people start ceding individual liberties for some chimerical greater good; where the regime does not even have to oppress, just unleash a vicious, emotional rhetoric and outsource the suppression to a large number of citizens who have suspended independent thinking and thus can be depended upon to cow down the questioners. The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, for instance, has been aggressively touted as a master stroke against everything from black money to terrorist funding to counterfeit money to corruption, while also being hailed as a major reform towards a cashless economy. Any criticism of it, is almost considered blasphemous, even anti-national. If this sentiment was being stoked only by the government or party in power, it  would be understandable, although undesirable propaganda. What makes it really scary is that ordinary middle-class citizens, especially those of the social media variety, have started behaving like accomplices of the regime by shouting down, mocking and denouncing any contrary views, branding these as unpatriotic. Moreover, even the shoddy and shockingly inept planning and execution of the demonetisation exercise is being defended as inevitable. We are being exhorted to treat it as our patriotic duty to suffer long queues, inconveniences, disruptions to our lives, genuine problems caused by this man-made crisis, without complaining or criticism. So is our brainwash complete? Have we become so mesmerised by the larger-than-life aura of a leader that we refuse to believe that he and his government can do any wrong? Have we forgotten what Dr Ambedkar warned about political bhakti? Don’t we realise that there is a very thin line between the use and abuse of power.In fact, bhakti makes political leaders believe in their own infallibility, inflates their self-opinion as men or women of destiny. Time and again, history has shown that there are no strong, authoritarian regimes which did not end up doing more harm than good to their countries. Many of them did so because of their popularity. Because people and nations put more faith in them than they should have.Popularity has almost never ever chastened any politician, except very rare exceptions — a Nehru, a Mandela. But most of those who have relied on personal appeal over everything else, have eventually led their nations to grief, when their self-belief descends into megalomania. Almost always that megalomania is fed by popularity and fawning bhakts. The bhakts create an echo chamber, which resounds only with what the leader wants to hear and believe, totally shutting out different viewpoints and realities. Modi and his party won a majority single-party mandate for the first time in 30 years in 2014. Even if grudgingly, one has to admit that his personal popularity has remained high, despite many questions that still remain unanswered. That there is an authoritarian and majoritarian streak cannot be denied. In the case of the surgical strikes along the LoC, his party and he exploited nationalistic and strong-man sentiments to the hilt. In the case of demonetisation too, we have seen him play the brave, lone-crusader card, the selfless, sacrificing leader rhetoric and the emotional, “suffer-for-me-and-our country” appeal. All of this points to his tendency to personalise all his government’s decisions to make his regime seem almost presidential in nature and help to build his image as a towering, decisive leader.The kind of leader he is for time to tell. Many people have bought his spiel hook, line and sinker, while others are sceptical. Whether his regime turns into a democratically elected one with autocratic tendencies, especially if he gets a second term, depends on his bhakts. People are free to support and adore the Prime Minister but they must realise that love for one’s country is completely different from love for a particular leader, party or a government. They have no right to attack, browbeat and brand as unpatriotic those questioning the policies of their beloved leader. If India turns less-than-democratic once again, blame it squarely on the bhakts. Any leader derives his delusions from the reflections seen in the distorted mirrors put up by his fanatic supporters.The writer is a Pune-based author and film-maker.

On day for senior citizens, rush kills four more people

NEW DELHI: At least four more people died across the country on Saturday, allegedly due to exhaustion after standing several hours to exchange banned banknotes as millions continued to grapple with a cash crunch 11 days after the shock decision.

The government says the move to demonetise the old `500 and `1000 notes was aimed at sucking out illicit cash. Officials said the Income Tax department has already started issuing hundreds of notices seeking source of funds from individuals and firms who have deposited huge amounts of cash in banks using the scrapped currency notes.

Though there is no official confirmation, opposition parties are linking the death of about 50 people to the demonetisation that has led to snaking queues in banks and cash-dispensing machines with people lining up late into the night to withdraw cash or exchange the old notes.

Two of the deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh – in Aligarh and Harodi. Another man died in Rajasthan’s Junjhunu district while a woman was brought dead to a hospital in Haryana’s Karnal. A doctor said she may have suffocated in the crowded queue outside a bank. Since the government’s announcement on November 8, banks have worked without a break, allowing customers of even other banks to exchange the old notes. The long queues in ATMs, however, remained in many parts of the country including Mumbai.

In Andhra Pradesh’s Paderu town, an angry policeman allegedly damaged two ATMs which had run out of cash. Bank officials said the cop was caught on CCTV kicking the machines repeatedly. The government has struggled to fill the country’s more than two lakh ATMs as a bumpy execution of the scheme has left the poor, small traders, farmers and women left with little cash in hand to even meet daily expenses.

There were also reports of distribution of new banknotes with faulty prints. A south Delhi resident, Imtiaz Alam, was given Rs 10 coins weighing about 15 kgs when he withdrew Rs 20,000 from the Jamia Cooperative bank.

Amid the chaos, a bank manager in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa went to a hospital to hand over Rs 25,000 to a retired railway official who suffered a broken hip after a fall on Friday.

Modi quotes Dylan to hail change, jokes about `100

CASH CRISIS Sonia hits out at leaders who are in ‘quest for shortcuts to greatness’

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday quoted Nobel laureate Bob Dylan to hit out at critics of the government’s decision to recall highvalue banknotes, saying “the times they are a-changin” and asked them not to criticise “what you can’t understand”.

SAUMYA KHANDELWAL/HT PHOTOAn elderly woman is helped into a bank at Delhi’s Aruna Asaf Ali Road on Saturday.

Modi’s swipe came 11 days after he announced a ban on `500 and `1,000 banknotes, a surprise decision that has left millions of Indians struggling to exchange the banned currency and withdraw cash from banks and ATMs.

Earlier in the day, Congress president Sonia Gandhi took a dig at leaders who are in a “quest for shortcuts to greatness”, in what is seen as a veiled criticism of Modi’s demonetisation move that her party says has been executed badly.

Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi also targeted Modi. “The cold play while the poor suffer!” he tweeted, referring to the British band Coldplay which performed in Mumbai after Modi’s address through video-conference.

The Congress’s fresh salvo came on a day when at least four more people died, allegedly due to exhaustion from queuing up for several hours to exchange banknotes.

The government says the demonetisation was aimed at curbing black money and counterfeiting of currency. Officials said the income tax department has started seeking explanations from hundreds of individuals and firms that have deposited huge amounts of scrapped currency notes their accounts.

Modi said it was part of his cleanliness drive. “Border ke us paar ki safai ho, ya kale dhan se bhari tijori ki safai ho, sab kuchh jor shor se chal raha hai (Whether it is cleansing across the border or cleaning of lockers and treasuries filled with black money, everything is on),” he said, drawing a parallel between the war on terrorism and black money.

The Prime Minister described Dylan — a shock choice for this year’s Nobel prize for literature — as one of his idols and quoted an entire paragraph from his iconic song, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’, which had become an anthem for pent-up frustration among American youth in the 60s.

Modi also saw the funny side of the demonetisation move, saying if he had to sing at a Coldplay event the youngsters “would want your money back in 100-rupee notes”. The Prime Minister doffed his hat at the youngsters, pointing out that addressing the crowd of over 80,000 was a “welcome break” from “old files and cold Delhi”.

He also said it was smart to just address the audience instead of being there in person otherwise many of the youngsters would be lining up to ask for their money back and that too in Rs 100 notes.

Besides the opposition, Modi has come under criticism from the BJP’s ally Shiv Sena, which defended a controversial statement by Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in Parliament.

“The difference is in the attackers. Pakistan attacked us in Uri, where in the case of demonetisation (deaths) it was our own rulers,” the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana.

Though there is no official confirmation, opposition parties are linking the death of more than 50 people to the demonetisation.

Two of the deaths on Saturday were reported from Uttar Pradesh. Another man died in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district while a woman was brought dead to a hospital in Haryana’s Karnal.

Though the queues in banks were relatively shorter on Saturday, officials said it could be because of certain restrictions including allowing only senior citizens to exchange old notes and catering to own customers.

The government has struggled to fill the country’s more than two lakh ATMs as a bumpy execution of the scheme has left the poor, small traders, farmers and women with little cash in hand to even meet daily expenses.

A south Delhi resident, Imtiaz Alam, was given Rs 10 coins weighing about 15 kgs when he withdrew Rs 20,000 from the Jamia Cooperative bank.

Queues get shorter with Saturday dedicated to elderly, but many return empty-handed

MOST OF THE BANKS COULD NOT CATER TO ALL THE ELDERLY PEOPLE AS THEY RAN OUT OF CASH AFTER NOON

AMRITSAR: As the government dedicated Saturday to senior citizens for cash exchange, elderly people thronged the banks in the city with great hope and enthusiasm, but many of them still returned empty-handed, due to currency crunch which continues to hit various banks.

SAMEER SEHGAL/HT(Top) A senior citizen waiting for his turn for exchane of currency notes outside a bank; (above) a woman stands in a queue with her son’s wedding card in Amritsar on Saturday.There was a huge footfall of senior citizens, particularly in the morning hours, at the banks and they were seen accompanied by their children, grandchildren or adult family members.

It turned out to be a heavy day for banks also because they will be closed on Sunday.

As the government had announced that only senior citizens will be entertained in the banks on November 19, they came in hordes to exchange notes, withdraw or deposit money and even withdraw pension from their respective accounts.

But most of the banks couldn’t cater to all the elderly people who turned up as they ran out of cash after noon.

“The banks which had their own chests had surplus cash on Saturday. But there are some banks (like ours) where there is no cash replenishment once we run out of it. Even if we want to help these senior citizens, we really can’t. New currency and surplus cash might flow in after Monday and things would get better,” says a manager of a public sector bank.

PROBLEMS GALORE

The senior citizens were unable to stand and wait for long. They also needed support to walk and climb stairs, if any. Several of them were exhausted due to movement they are not used to in their everyday life.

Joginder Kaur, a 78-year-old paralysis patient who was on her wheelchair, said, “The initiative (demonetisation) taken by the government might be good-intentioned, but the common man, specially the elderly people, are facing a lot of inconvenience and hassles.”

She added, “The move might bring a change in coming times, but for now all I know is that banks have become very crowded and in our age we do not have energy to be part of this rush.” Jaswant Singh, an 84-year-old retired policeman, seemed elated after getting lower denomination notes and also a new currency note of `2000.

“At this age, it’s a big hassle to pull yourself out of the comfort of cosy home. My body is fragile and I cannot move so much. Though the bank officials offered me a chair as the queue was long, but still the overall process was quite tiresome.”

For Krishan Kumar, a retiree, it was a disheartening experience as he had come to withdraw his pension, but had to return empty-handed due to cash crunch.

RAJYA SABHA MP MAKES ROUND OF BANKS

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Shwet Malik visited various banks in the city to make an on-the-spot assessment of the service being provided to senior citizens. He lauded bankers who were putting in extra efforts to provide comfort to the elderly. He also asked them to set up separate counters for senior citizens and women in the coming days.

SPL CASH EXCHANGE COUNTERS AT AIRPORT

With a view to facilitating passengers in the prevailing cash crunch scenario, the Airport Authority of India (AAI), in association with the State Bank of India, has installed two cash counters at the Sri Guru Ram Dass Ji International Airport here.

One counter has been set up at the arrival terminal of the airport and the other at the departure terminal.

Airport director VV Rao said, “This facility is for passengers. Anybody flying in and out of Amritsar can get their old notes exchanged with new ones, as per the norms. We have already made parking at the airport free.”

Bricks, stones replace people at bank queues

RAMGARH: Villagers in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand have found an innovative way to manage paddy sowing without losing out in the serpentine queues outside banks.

HTFarmers place bricks with their names written on them in front of a bank in Ramgarh. They take their place in the queue when the bank opens.

The farmers, who are gearing up for rabi season, write their names on bricks and boulders in chalk and place them outside the banks before going to their fields. Once the banks open, they take their position in the queue.

The practice avoids the hassle of standing in the queue for hours. In several areas, it’s an unspoken rule that the bricks can be moved only by the person who placed them. Interestingly, nobody trespasses or breaks the queue.

“For the past one week, I could not exchange money as there was a long queue outside the banks and work was pending in the field. When I came to know about this unique idea, I too put a stone in line and went to work. I reached the bank counter minutes before my turn came,” said Ganesh Mahto, a local farmer.

Similarly, a few customers are hiring local youth for `100-`200 to wait in queues on their behalf. “We used this method to get water from a government water tanker during summers. Now, we are using it at bank counters too,” said Kuliya Karmali from Rajrappa.

Dinbandhu Poddar, a local representative of MP Jayant Sinha, said: “We are distributing tea and biscuits to people in queues. We assure all help to senior citizens.”