Social media had only one topic trending in the hours after the Centre announced the demonetisation of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes on Tuesday night as in one sweep, it upstaged the entire debate about the US presidential election.
Soon after posts alerting to the declaration of demonetisation by the Prime Minister, a no-holds-barred social media spar of trolls between pro-Modi and anti-Modi camp followers erupted. This was interspersed with serious posts for and against the view that the move would check black money.
But the most entertaining were posts and trolls by people who owed allegiance to neither camp but tried to find the funny side of a new dawn without the ‘big’ notes. One such troll made a mock request to Prime Minister Modi on behalf of Indian expats not to declare Indian passports invalid for travelling to India one fine midnight. There were plenty of trolls drawing link between demonetisation and the state of mind of political leaders. A former Chief Minister and his two Cabinet colleagues in the UDF government who are facing corruption charges were the pick of such trolls which said that they were yet to regain consciousness after collapsing on hearing the declaration.
Another post featured a dialogue from the blockbuster movie Aaram Thampuran delivered by Mohanlal that there would come a time when bundles of notes would not even have the value of paper. An aggrieved troller felt the government was beating up the entire population for the crime committed by a few by withdrawing currency notes all of a sudden. As posts emerged from a pro-BJP camp that the new currency notes to be launched were to feature nano GPS, that became the theme of a flurry of trolls.
One seemingly innocuous post with dollops of sarcasm wondered whether the GPS in currency notes could be leveraged for Wi-Fi connectivity. Another troll wanted to know whether those currency notes would have 13 mega pixel camera and such other features of a smart phone.
Many posted images of wallets containing a few soiled Rs.10 notes and coins with the caption that it was one of those rare moments when being poor felt being good. Malayalees’ penchant for ‘spirited’ trolls came to the fore as there appeared ones which downplayed the information on places where the banned notes would be accepted with a query whether they would be accepted at Bevco outlets. “The most repeated question today is whether cards are accepted at Bevco outlets,” said another troll.
