Why is Modi betraying panic after demonetisation?

His public speeches over the last two days have been dead giveaways. Why does the prime minister sound nervous?

One of the biggest cleanup measures against the black money, as Narendra Modi has described it, should have given him the courage of conviction and confidence.

He should have been confident that flushing out of the black money was a radical step and it would help the country as well as the BJP.

But at first public meetings after announcing the demonetisation scheme, Modi looked weak and insecure. He was angry and shrill.

He shed tears and he shed decency. He sounded vitriolic and vindictive.

At one moment, he was on his knees, grovelling before the people, the very next moment he was taunting the Opposition.

He even mocked the ordinary people.

For instance, his sarcastic taunt that people who were involved in 2G and coal scams have to stand in queue for Rs 4,000 was aimed at Rahul Gandhi. But actually he ended up hitting the ordinary people.

For Modi surely doesn't believe that the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty would ever need to stand in queue for Rs 4,000. Modi himself never does.

And his insensitive comment that when the poor were sleeping peacefully, the rich were searching for sleeping pills. Are the poor who have no cash to buy food sleeping peacefully?

Addressing the diaspora in Kobe, Japan he called upon the people to bear the pains of demonetisation process with the sort of stoicism the Japanese showed when they faced Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl of 1986.

Where was his equanimity gone? Where was his sense of balance?

From sarcasm and bitterness he shifted to self-pity at the Goa speech.

"I know that forces are up against me, they may not let me live, they may ruin me because their loot of 70 years is in trouble, but I am prepared."

From self-pity mode to sacrificial mode: "I was not born to sit on a chair of high office. Whatever I had, my family, my home - I left it for nation."

He needs to be reminded that he left family, nay wife, and his home not in service of the country but in service of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an organisation that has been banned thrice.

Why is he portraying himself as a victim over the demonetisation decision? Why is playing politics of victimhood? It's because the phenomenon of victimhood is born out of extreme insecurity.

Do you recognise this Modi, who always sounds confident and combative? What is he betraying? Panic?

Again in Ghazipur the taunt "Congress also demonetised the 25 paise coin without asking anyone. They did something of their stature, I did of mine". This is crass street lingo.

Can this nervousness, arrogance and vitriol be explained away as a response to Opposition's attack on demonetisation?

Opposition parties have been critical of the manner in which the scheme is being implemented. But by no means the Opposition has been vitriolic.

In fact, the initial Opposition's response to the scheme was rather mute. For the first few days, almost all parties except the Congress felt compelled to welcome the demonetisation announcement, with few ifs and buts here and there.

It was Modi who launched the first salvo in Japan, which was followed by his bizarre and uncalled for rants at public meetings.

At a time when he should have shown equanimity, when his response should have been measured, the Prime Minister appeared to be losing nerve.

He should have understood the ordinary people's state of the mind. He should have known that they needed balm to be applied on their wounds. Instead he was rubbing salt into the wounds.

It appears Modi became unnerved by the magnitude of the problem after he returned from Japan. The long and endless queues in front of the banks and ATMs reminded him of his follies of having implemented the scheme without adequate preparation.

Knowing that the sudden withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will cause chaos and temporarily upset the entire cash economy, the government should have been better prepared.

Besides, Modi should have done some basic political exercise too.

One tends to agree that foolproof planning to mitigate the pain of the ordinary people couldn't have been made given the secrecy needed for the scheme's success.

Yet, the pain could have been better managed because, as Modi has said, the demonetisation scheme was in planning for nine months.

At the political front, the government could have taken the Opposition parties on board soon after Modi announced the scheme on November 8.

Opposition leaders could have been told that the need for maintaining secrecy tied down the government's hands in not informing them of the scheme earlier but their cooperation was needed to eliminate the black money.

Forget working on building consensus. Modi straight way went into confrontational mode. He is itching for confrontation as it were.

Opposition parties too are gearing for a fight. They are uniting to open a front against the government during the Parliament session.

This new avatar of Modi in which he plays victimhood exposes new facet of his personality. It exposes his inner insecurity and isolation.

His nervousness and his panic response to a situation arising out of demonetisation brings in focus the brittle and erratic nature of his decision making.

Modi said it was not a "tughlaqi" decision that he imposed on the people.

But now people are beginning to believe we have a Muhammad bin Tughlaq as our prime minister.