Demonetisation: Rhetoric as policy and people as fools
BJP president Amit Shah in a recent election rally in Bundelkhand announced that if illegal mining is stopped, then every house in Bundelkhand would get a Maruti car.
Party leader Rajnath Singh promised that if the BJP gets power then the drought issue in Bundelkhand will get solved in five-ten years.
The rhetoric used is very similar to what the BJP said in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, during which it promised that it will bring back black money stashed abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh in every Indian's account.
Leaders from all parties keep making these bogus claims in order to swing public opinion for their own benefit. With unrealistic expectations raised during election time, the government is always under pressure to do something popular and big. The appearance of doing something big takes priority rather than doing things the right way.
The current demonetisation drive announced by PM Narendra Modi is a result of this tendency. The government keeps telling us that the move will end corruption, will end the fake currency racket as well as terrorism and every other problem in India that arises from black money. Supporters of the BJP went a step ahead and announced that it will make India great again.
When questions are raised about how this is going to curb black money or corruption or terrorism, the PM has only jokes on offer. His responses ranged from taking potshots at those asking questions to getting emotional, but no answers are provided to the genuine concerns of the people.
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| PM Narendra Modi. (Photo credit: PTI) |
What is the evidence that the demonetisation drive will work?
The PM, while referring to a few Rs 1,000 notes that were found floating in the Ganga said, "Earlier people use to throw coins in the Ganga but now they are throwing 1000 rupee notes".
Is this how we are going to decide whether a policy is successful or not?
He also said: "People are depositing money in the account of their mothers whom they had abandoned in old age homes."
In his rhetorical style, he asked people "tell me if the blessings of these old women will make this successful or not?"
So this is what the success of our policy now depends on - blessings of old women.
No wonder the whole thing has turned into chaos.
The government is yet to explain the "how" of the move. By just claiming that the drive will do this and that is not sufficient. Senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu in his speech in the Rajya Sabha said "this step will increase the formal economy, improve tax collection, increase opportunity for the poor, and decrease funding of arms, hamper terrorist activities, recapitalise banks, decrease the fiscal deficit, and improve infrastructure and social spending." He added that "there will be some pain but it will be followed by a long term gain".
But how do we understand when you will not explain the rationale behind the decision? Please enlighten us how all this would be achieved. Back your claims with numbers, you must have anticipated in your ten months of planning. You must have applied your brains before taking this decision.
Please show us. Unless, what Naidu actually meant was that please believe this will do all the things we are claiming because our intentions are good and our PM is a great man. But this cannot be the reason why one should accept the claims made by the government.
He said the PM has the political will and administrative skills to take this step. Looking at the way the drive is being implemented, I have no reason to believe administrative skills are a part of it, and political cannot be a substitute for logic.
Did the government calculate the cost and benefit of such a drastic step? If yes, then it should make it public. What problems did the government anticipate and what steps did it plan in order to mitigate them?
It is not sufficient to say, we have been planning for ten months; it must say what exactly was being planned. Looking at the current scenario, it seems the government failed to anticipate issues arising out of the situation.
A government indulging in callous planning and getting away with it - by just being emotional or rhetorical about the issue - reflects on the ability of a society to hold its government accountable. Haven't we learnt any lessons in 70 years of democracy?
This is not about the PM deciding which suit to wear; it is about a serious policy decision which is affecting the lives of all Indians. The government is accountable to the people of this country for all its decisions and Modi must not be allowed to get away with emotional and political rhetoric.
Naidu in his speech also said: "They might not understand the full consequences, but they are celebrating this step." This is the kind of citizen this government wants us to turn into - conformist and believers. It is extremely important for people to not be swayed by emotional and political rhetoric of politicians.
Public discussions must be based on facts. Each politician must explain the how and why of policy choices. They should show what options were available and why was any particular choice made. They can't say anything and get away with it because they are in power or in the opposition.
We must ask how all promises made during and after the elections will be realised, and whether they have a concrete plan for it. It must be evaluated whether it is feasible or not. What will be its short-term and long-term implications?
Our failure to ask these questions is the reason why governments take decisions without serious thought and planning. There have been many instances, like the plan to ban NDTV India for a day or the step to monitor all SMS and messages, when the current government had taken a decision and then backtracked due to public criticism.
This shows lack of planning. They are not able to understand the implications of what they are doing. They still get away with all of this because we "the citizens" don't care about the logic; all we need are assurances wrapped with rhetoric, however useless they may be.