BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday exhorted his team of party national office-bearers to campaign for push for a “less cash” economy and said demonetisation was a “visionary” step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one that not “merely looks good” but “did what was good” for the people of the country.
Mr. Shah was addressing a closed door meeting of party office-bearers in New Delhi. “Demonetisation is a visionary decision of political will aimed at curbing black money and corruption. The parties criticising it are doing so out of political malice. But the mandate we have received is not for taking decisions which merely look good to people but which are good for them. We will not remain confined to small reforms but bring about fundamental changes in the economy,” Mr. Shah reportedly said, according to a senior office-bearer present at the meeting.
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A senior party leader quoted Mr. Shah as saying that it is “imperative to kill parallel economy running on black money to boost the country’s resources so that it can invest heavily in education, health and other sectors.”
Mr. Shah’s comments to office-bearers comes a day after he held a meeting of 36 party MPs from eastern Uttar Pradesh, a crucial State that goes to polls early next year. According to MPs present at the meeting, the feedback on the demonetisation decision and implementation had been sought from them. Out of these 36 MPs, around 24 spoke at the meeting, according to a source and the general sense that was conveyed to the party chief was that while the decision and its initial impact had been positively received by the people of the area, the situation entering the third week of December was disappointing.
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“The lines before banks are not ending and that is creating difficulties for people, especially in the semi rural and rural areas. The surgical strikes against Pakistan had created a positive atmosphere for the party and so had the early days of demonetisation. The remonetisation process needs to be calibrated,” was the message conveyed to Mr. Shah, a senior MP said.
BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma, who spoke to the media after Thursday’s meeting, said the office-bearers, who included State in-charges, shared ground feedback on demonetisation.