Note Ban & Inconvenience: If Only The Media Depicted Public Wrath

Contrary to the results of Modi’s survey, the truth is that the aam aadmi isn’t thrilled about demonetisation.

I heard Mr Jayant Sinha, MoS for civil aviation claiming on Rajya Sabha TV that normalcy has returned to business and banking after the demonetisation announcement.

The survey conducted through Modi’s app claims that over 90 percent of the population has approved of demonetisation.

News channels also claim that people are happy with the move, despite difficulties.

My own experience, while I stood in a queue on 28 November however, is contrary to what the media has been projecting. I feel that people are not very happy with the move and the media has failed to accurately gauge the mood of the masses.

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Personal Travails

My experience on the 28th was also different from the experience I had on 11 November, during the early days of demonetisation, when the public was yet to comprehend the implications of the move.

The bank had a long queue, the ATM located besides the bank wore a deserted look as it had no cash.

It took me about two hours to enter the bank and thereafter, I spent another two hours inside. The queue consisted mainly of middle and lower middle class people who are dependent on their daily income for their survival.

Someone praised the move and the responses were brutal. Mr Modi would not have felt flattered if he heard the words being hurled at him inside the bank.

A person trying to deposit money was annoyed enough to state bluntly that all that the scheme achieved was that it managed to line-up the entire population in front of banks. He was there since 11:30 am. He would miss duty if he wasn’t free by 2 pm and lose out on his daily wage. He entered the bank by 1:30 pm but by the time it was his turn, it was already 2:15 and time for lunch for bank employees. He was finally free only at about 3 pm and absolutely enraged by then.

A lady, probably a house maid, was there to deposit as well as withdraw money. She complained that she had to take leave from work to do so. She wondered why she was made to undergo the ordeal, even though she had no black money.

Another person was unhappy because his family in the village needed two types of fertilizer for sowing, one of which is expensive. Restrictions on withdrawal of money, even for farmers led to a situation where they were unable to purchase adequate fertilizer and diesel for pumps and tractors. He apprehended that this would affect crop yield. The farmers were also finding it difficult to pay for farm labour.

A shopkeeper complained that there was hardly any activity in the market as people did not have cash and most shopkeepers did not have card machines.

Also Read: ‘Extinguished Cash’ Now Meaningless to Judge Modi’s Demonetisation

Inconvenience to the Aam Aadmi

When someone suggested that they use Paytm, one person said that there were difficulties as the money was not getting transferred to his account. He was not very sure of what the difficulty actually was.

The most common refrain was: why should we have to beg for our own money, lying in our own accounts and why aren’t the ‘big’ people accountable? All that is happening is that the poor are suffering.

Appreciating the move, one person said: “ jahan bhi pahle ye hua hai successful hua hai (the move has been successful wherever it has been implemented)”. Someone else shouted him down by saying that the two known cases of demonetisation have resulted in ruining the economy of those countries.

When I finally managed to enter the bank, I was witness to several interactions between clients and bank employees. It transpired that banks were also adding to the woes of the “aam aadmi”.

Requests for new chequebooks were rejected outright- the banks were too busy to issue them at the time. An employee relented only when the client pleaded that the ATMs had no money and without a chequebook, his business would suffer.

Requests for opening new accounts were brusquely dismissed and a client had to approach the branch manager to get the needful done. Opening new accounts is essential for those who do not have bank accounts, since the exchange of old notes has been stopped.

Also Read: Modi’s Current Challenge: Dealing with the DEMON in Demonetisation

Public Anger

Many banks have tweaked the rules and unilaterally reduced working hours, rationalising it by saying that since the new currency is in short supply, it gets exhausted early.

The elite are also angry, as is apparent from the aggressive, pointed questioning of Saket Bahuguna from the ABVP at the TOI Lit Fest on 27 November.

My assessment, therefore, is that public anger is rising rapidly in the face of continued difficulties and a severe political backlash is in the offing if the situation doesn’t improve quickly. A serious setback to the economy, as apprehended by a majority of economists, will further anger the public.

The media would do well to look within and project an impartial picture.

(Sanjiv Krishan Sood is a retired Additional Director General of Border Security Force. He has served for 38 years on the borders of our country, including 8 years at the LoC and in the sensitive Samba Sector of J&K. His interests include border management, security, politics and humour. The views expressed in this article are his own.)

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