Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol. Thirumavalavan on Sunday said while the people in the country are ready to subject themselves to any hardship to eradicate black money, demonetisation was not a solution as it was a flawed concept. Mr. Thirumavalavan’s stand is in stark contrast to the one taken by MDMK leader and People’s Welfare Front (PWF) convener Vaiko, who has been pretty vocal in his support of the demonetisation scheme. The VCK and the two Left parties are part of the PWF.
“People are ready to even forego food if the government’s effort will result in putting an end to black money. But demonetisation will take us nowhere. On the other hand, it is helping small black money holders to covert their currencies into white through banks. The suspension of bank officials and a few individuals obtaining new currencies in bulk prove my argument,” Mr. Thirumavalavan told The Hindu .
The Dalit leader said black money had become part of Indian political and electoral system and privatisation had made the situation worse. “Unless you reform the political and electoral system, you cannot eradicate black money. Today, the situation has come to such a pass that political parties cannot function without black money and elections cannot be won without bribing voters,” he said.
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According to him, the private sector was thriving in the country only on black money and self-financing educational institutions proliferated by collecting capitation fee and donations.
“Everyone knows that parents have to pay several lakhs of rupees to get an engineering seat in private colleges and the price for a medical seat has touched one crore rupees. Parents pay the money under the table and this is nothing but black money. Has the government taken any steps to stop commercialisation of education in the country which in turn helped a few individuals amassing black money and foraying into other business ventures,” he asked.
Mr. Thirumavalavan did not agree that Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept his decision on demonetisation as a secret to prevent even his colleagues from getting wind of it. “Now, it has come to light that the address he made to the nation was a recorded speech. What is the guarantee that those who had recorded the speech had not revealed it to others? If he is under compulsion to keep such a serious issue as a secret, does he agree that he cannot trust even his Cabinet colleagues or say that they are agents of black money holders,” he wanted to know.
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It was laughable if the Indian government, with its powerful government machinery and adequate laws, was not able to zero-in on black money holders and had to resort to demonetisation. “Even a layman knows who is holding black money in his area and the government, instead of targeting them, has taken a circuitous route,” he charged.
Asked about the difference of opinion among the partners of the PWF, particularly Mr. Vaiko, he said they had agreed to disagree.
“We will work together on issues when there is a consensus. There is no need to discuss about an issue which eludes a consensus. The VCK and the MDMK share the same stand on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue and the LTTE. But the Left parties approach it from a different angle and it has not created any wedge between us,” he said.