New Delhi/Ghazipur: Defending his government’s demonetisation order, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted Monday that the poor in the country were supporting his move against corruption, black money and fake currency. Admitting that it was a “little harsh” and that people were facing inconvenience, Mr Modi attacked the Opposition, mainly the Congress, for misleading the people and asked if corruption and dishonesty should be allowed in the country. Scoffing at the Opposition for blaming him for the problems faced by the poor, Mr Modi said he was better aware of hardships faced by ordinary people. The PM said he knew he was up against the powerful, but vowed to continue his “fight for the poor, farmers and villagers”, as the Opposition parties joined forces to corner the government on the issue in the Winter Session of Parliament starting Wednesday.
Addressing the BJP’s “Parivartan Yatra” rally in Ghazipur in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Mr Modi said while the poor were enjoying sound sleep after the decision, the rich were “running from pillar to post to buy sleeping pills”.
Mr Modi also brought up his “chai-walah” days, saying that his decision to crack down on black money was a little “kadak (strong)” just like his tea. “Mujhe yaad hai mujhe gareeb log kehte the Modi ji chai jara kadak banana. Gareeb ko jara kadak chai achi lagti hai, magar ameer ka muh bigad jaata hai. (I remember poor people used to ask me to keep their tea a little strong. Well, the poor love their brew on the stronger side but it usually spoils the taste buds of the elite),” Mr Modi said taking on the black money holders, who he said are spending sleepless nights since the crackdown.
In a dig at the Congress, the PM recalled that the Congress government had imposed the Emergency, stifling the rights of the people and the media, and banned chavanni (25 paise coins).
“Under which law did they ban chavanni? …It’s another thing that they couldn’t move beyond chavanni… You took the step as per your stature, we did what matched ours,” Mr Modi said.
Invoking the name of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, on his 127th birth anniversary, the PM said he had purposely chosen this date for his visit to UP to launch projects. “You (Nehru) are no more, the leaders from your party and your family are levelling false allegations… still, on your birthday, I am starting work to complete your unfulfilled desire for the development of India,” Mr Modi said.
The PM said while there was no dearth of money for development, the fact was that money was stashed away somewhere else and not where it should be. Defending the demonetisation move, Mr Modi said the fake currency menace couldn’t be checked if such a big offensive was not initiated. The PM also said fake notes were pumped in by the enemy to wage war, for terrorism, Naxalism and extremism, and they are “most worried as they are not able to make payments”. The PM alleged rumours were spread and housewives instigated that their hard-earned cash for their daughter’s wedding was being taken away.
Without naming BSP chief Mayawati, the PM said: “They (politicians) used to get huge garlands of notes under which their face got hidden,” in an apparent reference to the currency note garland presented to Ms Mayawati at a rally in Lucknow when she was the chief minister.
Reaching out to locals, Mr Modi, who laid the foundation stone for several railway projects, began his address in Bhojpuri by saluting Ghazipur for giving birth to Param Vir Chakra awardee Abdul Hamid, who “taught Pakistan a lesson in the 1965 war”.
Thanking UP’s voters for supporting and trusting the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mr Modi said: “The state played a key role in giving us an absolute majority.”
In New Delhi, the BJP targeted Ms Mayawati as well as Trinamul supreno Mamata Banerjee for attacking the PM over the demonetisation decision. BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma attributed Ms Mayawati’s criticism of the government’s move as her “frustration” as crores of rupees she had allegedly collected by “selling” Assembly election tickets have turned into garbage. Rejecting her attack on the PM as “low-level politics not worthy of a reply”, he alleged she had turned BSP into a “shop” while it was a movement under founder Kanshi Ram, her mentor.
The BJP’s West Bengal co-in-charge, Siddharth Nath Singh, said Ms Banerjee had become a “cheerleader” of hawala operators and smugglers, alleging that the “queen of the Saradha scam” was losing her mental balance due to the Modi government’s strike against black money with the demonetisation exercise.
