Demonetisation — a watershed moment in Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministership Blog and Opinion Demonetisation — a watershed moment in Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministership

Nov 15

Nov 15 Demonetisation — a watershed moment in Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministership

Article first published on MEDIUM Click here

Only this morning, one read a former Union Minister of the Congress in the UPA 2 government say — the Prime Minister should have cut short his foreign trip and returned to India in the light of the chaos and commotion that ensued following demonetisation. Hearing Narendra Modi’s speech in Goa — he must be cursing himself for saying that. Sometimes one has to careful about wishes.

This is my third blog in 4 days on Demonetisation. I do realise that is an over-kill by any standard — but a few points needs to be highlighted. I shall delve directly into them:

Hearing the Prime Minister one should be in no doubt that the War on Black Money has only just begun and #Demonetisation is only the first step. He said more than once that, there are more actions up his sleeves.
There were repeated references by the PM — about the next 50 days. He craved for people’s indulgence till December 30th and said if he failed to deliver what he promised — he is willing to be tried at any street junction; And, to be clear the reference was not just to Black Money;
There were some veiled threats of revealing names and letters of MPs who represented against imposition of VAT on jewellers; Also revealing secrets of “70 years loot;”
Even though the PM was abroad he kept himself abreast of the minutest development — whether it is queues outside ATM, volunteers serving water, tea or bringing chairs for senior citizens, rumour about salt shortage and Rahul Gandhi’s guest-appearance at a SBI Branch. So, make no mistake his feedback channels are live and flowing;
He was acutely aware of the forces he was taking on and the dangers he faces (including threat to life) and he challenged them openly.
Not to be missed — there was also a passing reference to “war” (mentioned as a suggestion from a journalist friend) and the magnitude of hardship people would have to face then — which would be many times more than what they were going through now.

The speech removes all speculation, if there were any, that Narendra Modi has gone for the jugular in a high stakes game — and preparing for a long haul.

Finally, the genius of Narendra Modi lies in how he has changed the entire discourse by just this one speech. Now Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi will have to invent some new stunt to stay in the news.

Some are calling it Narendra Modi’s “Tryst with Destiny” speech. Few have said it is Modi’s Lee Kuan Yew moment (expect the left lib intellectuals and media crying emergency, fascism and dictatorship).