 "Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: Twitter (@BJP4India)")
With 50 days of note ban “pain” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sought from the people having expired, he appealed for greater numbers to switch to digital transactions on Friday.
Modi said the note ban decision and digital transactions could usher in India’s golden age, that India would again become the ‘sone ki chidiya’, the proverbial golden bird that signified its wealth. He said note ban was evidence of his commitment to uplifting the poor, and claimed how divine intervention has supported his cause.
Modi said the monetary gains from note ban will be used for welfare of the poor.
At an event to distribute cash awards to people who have used digital transactions at the DigiDhan Mela at Talkatora Stadium, the PM appealed to people to carry out five digital transactions from 1 January, 2017.
He also launched an app called ‘Bhim’, named after the architect of Constitution of India Bhim Rao Ambedkar, to encourage digital transactions. Modi extolled the contribution of Ambedkar to India’s economic planning.
Ambedkar is a Dalit icon. Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the larger Sangh Parivar has tried to reach out to the Dalits, which do not constitute its traditional support base, in the last couple of years. Majority of Dalits, who along with Muslims are two of the poorest communities in India, are not part of the formal economy. They also comprise a significant 20 per cent of the electorate in Uttar Pradesh and over 31 per cent in Punjab. Both of these states go to polls in February-March.
In a swipe at former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s skepticism about the government’s drive at a “less cash economy”, the PM said there wasn’t yet any medicine available to cure pessimism. He even seemed to mimic his predecessor, saying how such critics speak softly.
The PM said adoption of digital transactions would help a barber, a small trader, a dhobi and those who ply small trades to access bank loans, as their phone would be a proof of their income. This would spare them from seeking usurious loans from moneylenders.
To criticism in the media that the government has pushed digital transactions without preparedness, Modi sarcastically said that he thanked the media for bringing awareness. He even suggested that from 1 January onwards electronic media should start asking from people whether they have switched to cashless transactions.
He said India was on the cusp of a revolution and all that was required was technology and connectivity to reach the common man. He said India wasn’t poor and was known as ‘sone ki chidiya’, but became poor because of behavioural flaws. Modi said analysts don’t have the wherewithal to analyze note ban, and history would judge it fairly. Modi said this was the first time in its history that Indians have united to fight an internal enemy – the ills that plague Indian society.
