The impact of demonetisation in Uttarakhand — transient in the hills and more palpable in the plains — appears to be of little prominence to the voters in the State.
Deepak Sisodia, a hawker sitting by the Ganga at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar, watches passers-by, hoping to spot potential customers. This is “off-season” for the holy town — so there are fewer buyers.
“After demonetisation, there was a sudden slump in the sales of puja samagri [essentials for rituals] … We suffered losses also because the tourists would offer us ₹2,000 notes for articles worth ₹50. We didn’t have the required change; so we couldn’t sell anything for many days,” Mr. Sisodia says.
But the hardship, he says, will not decide whom he is going to vote for — just as in the case of Purnima Singh, another vendor at Har Ki Pauri. She says, “I will vote for the candidate who will give me a place along the river to open a stall. Currently, we have to deal with people who call us encroachers and threaten to evict us.”
Of the 70 Assembly seats in Uttarakhand, 20 fall in the plains of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar and the remaining 50 in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions.
In Haridwar and the areas in Udham Singh Nagar district, where people are mainly farmers, daily-wage labourers or factory workers, the impact of demonetisation and the people’s discontent over it is evident.
However, despite the Congress’ constant attempts to project demonetisation as a campaign issue, it seems to have died amid the election clamour.
Voters will speak: CM
Speaking to The Hindu recently, Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who is also the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate, said, “Uttarakhand has already witnessed losses of up to ₹1,000 crore [due to demonetisation] ... In the upcoming polls, the public will give an apt reply to the Centre’s decision on note ban.”
However, in the Garhwal hills, the people said the note ban did more good than bad.
C.M. Bhatt from Srinagar in Garhwal said, “It is good that demonetisation happened just before the elections. Now the parties don’t have money to splurge on campaigns.”
Appreciating the note ban, Virendra Panwar from Uttarkashi in Garhwal said the “only” problem he faced because of demonetisation was having to travel to faraway banks and standing in long queues for hours. “Other than that, it was a good step… it stopped terrorism and curbed black money,” Mr. Panwar said.
