The economic facts signifying the adverse fallouts of demonetisation on the grounds do not alter, although the results of the recent Assembly elections may be construed as a vindication of it, Chairman of Media Development Foundation (MDF) Sashi Kumar has said. He was delivering the Moosa Baker Commemoration lecture on ‘Deconstructing Modi’s demonetisation’ here on Sunday.
“I am not in a position to say whether the election results in Uttar Pradesh are a direct endorsement of demonetisation. But, for me, it is clear that the elections were won by the Bharatiya Janata Party purely by polarising the society on communal lines, although the media has been telling otherwise. The capitulation and the cravenness of the media in the build-up and the analysis of elections also needs to be seen. The economic facts on the ground and the adverse fallouts do not alter, unless we are a masochist race who likes to inflict pain on ourselves,” he said.
He said that the Modi government, which introduced the demonetisation process as a fight against black money, kept on shifting the goal posts as the days progressed.
“Initially, it was presented as a measure to suck out all the black money from the system. Later, this was changed to a fight against counterfeit currency. A few days later, the goal became increasing the credit of banks. Then we heard the whole argument about formalising the economy, by routing all cash through banks. Finally, we were presented with the utopia of a cashless society. All this could have been achieved with a gradual change. This was a sudden and extreme move, unlike anything seen in peace time,” said Mr. Sasikumar.
Writer Paul Zachariah released the book ‘Neethi, Deshiyatha, Vargeeyatha’ written by Moosa A. Baker, by handing over a copy to filmmaker K.R. Mohanan.
