This refers to the editorial, “Of hyperbolic reactions” (November 21). The apex court has rightly said that people have started becoming “frantic”, and it has hence urged the Government to act fast to avert “riots”. This directive conflicted with the Prime Minister’s contention that the poor, with a penchant for kadak chai (strong tea), were sleeping peacefully. The disdain for the poor could not have been starker.
It is true that black money is a malady affecting the Indian economy, but demonetisation is not an apt remedy to rely upon to emasculate its regeneration. Notably, only six per cent of the black money is kept in the form of cash and a bulk of black money is held in benami property, bullion, shares and capital investment — not to speak of the black money stashed away in foreign accounts. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘soaring popularity’, as claimed by his party and his supporters, the demonetisation exercise will eventually lead to an existential crisis.