How a retired soldier's meltdown in ATM queue became face of demonetisation

More than a month after the Prime Minister's emotional appeals to cooperate with him to defeat the "forces up against him", it's the common man who seems to be crying for help without anybody paying much heed. 

For those who intently listened to Modi's teary-eyed speech on November 13 in Goa, this photograph, clicked by Hindustan Times photojournalist Parveen Kumar, may make the PM's "sacrifices" look much less painful than that of those queuing up outside ATMs and banks following demonetisation.

The photograph, which has gone viral, shows an old man bursting into tears after missing his spot in a queue at a State Bank of India branch in Gurgaon. The photograph was poignantly captioned: "They said only the rich will cry."

Thrilled to see one of India's richest, corrupt and biggest black money hoarders break into tears for missing his spot in an ATM queue. pic.twitter.com/AxihiAx3T4

— jairaj singh (@JairajSinghR) December 14, 2016

The old man, as it turns out, is a 78-year old retired soldier by the name of Nand Lal, who lives alone in a dingy appartment with no one to look after him. Lal, who was standing in line to withdraw his pension, broke into tears after failing to do so despite queuing up for three days. “Humko apna paisa kyon nahi dete. Pehle tayyari kyon nahi ki? (Why aren’t they giving my money? Why didn’t they prepare?),” asks Lal, repeating the question that has been on the minds of many who continue to suffer in ATM and bank queues every day.

Lal isn't the first soldier to have been victim of the government's apathy towards the impoverished. Barely a week ago, a retired CRPF personnel and war hero shot himself to death after allegedly failing to withdraw cash from the bank even after repeated visits.

"The life of a soldier is valued by Indians, especially proud nationalists, only when they have to make an asinine comparison or an empty rhetoric."

While there have been reportedly Rs 200 crore worth of black money in new currency that has been seized by various agencies (proving that demonetisation had almost no effect on black money hoarders), as many as 80 deaths have been reported following the inconvenience caused by banning of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes.

It’s almost criminal to presume that the prime minister did know the full scope of India’s poverty problem, considering the fact that he made an effort to promote banking services to those who barely have enough money to afford one square meal a day.

But despite the government's efforts and claims to have opened close to 68 million bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojna, there still exist about 165 million people who are unbanked.

Thanks to demonetisation and profit margins going down because of that, farmers have been forced to destroy their produce instead of selling them. “Demonetisation has wrecked the farmers,” said Ramkrishna Umathe, farmer and deputy chairman of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Selu, Maharashtra.

While the government is busy promoting Digital India and mobile wallets to a nation where only 41 per cent of the population has smartphones and only nine per cent of all rural areas have access to mobile technology, can someone please tell the Prime Minister that the rich and corrupt certainly aren't crying.

Also read - Sad day, man who fought for India dies due to demonetisation