Pain now for gain tomorrow

In his bold address to the nation on 8 November 2016, announcing the extinguishing of 86% of the country’s currency within four hours, Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi assured a surprised population that the travail caused by the measure would end on 30 December 2016 and that from the subsequent day

onwards, normalcy would resume. The Prime Minister was forthright in warning that the 50 days ahead would bring discomfort and indeed pain to millions, as indeed has been proved. Not simply millions or tens of millions, but hundreds of millions of citizens of the world’s most populous democracy have endured considerable dislocation in their lives as a consequence of what is clearly a measure for the Guinness Book of Records. A single decision has impacted 1.26 billion individuals within hours of being made, indeed a clear record-breaker. The Prime Minister’s honesty in giving advance notice of the pain that was going to be caused by the policy approved by him is reminiscent of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s warning to the British people in 1941 that all he could promise them was “blood, toil, tears and sweat”. Churchill won the war, and it is expected that Prime Minister Modi also will win the war and fufil his promise that the situation would approach normalcy by the dawn of 31 December 2016. This may truly be called a Day of Deliverance from the problems and discomforts caused by the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in a manner unprecedented in the democratic world. It may be remembered that the US dollar is the most counterfeited currency in the world and yet not once has the Federal Reserve Board of the United States demonetised any or all denominations of currency accepted as legal tender in the world’s biggest economy.

Now that only a few more days are left before a new dawn breaks out over India on the morrow of 31 December, citizens need to endure with patience the travails visible since 8 November. If in the past it was the Soviet Union that was the country of long lines waiting in queues, that distinction has subsequently migrated to India, at least from 8 November to 30 December 2016. Across the country, long queues have become commonplace. Some bank chairpersons have clearly never stepped out of their limousines onto the pavement in decades, as they were loudly declaiming on television that “there are fewer lines outside ATMs” and hence that proof has arrived that banks as well as the Reserve Bank of India have been doing the task assigned to them properly. In actual fact, the performance of the RBI has been sadly deficient, so much so that respect for the institution and its leadership is at a low never seen before in its history. However, this country believes in the word of the Prime Minister and is therefore expecting that on 31 December, the glitches caused by less than competent handling of the post-demonetisation situation by agencies of the state will be rectified under Modi’s leadership. The Prime Minister is aware that the keeping of his vow of normalcy by 31 December is a nationwide test of his credibility, and that this credibility is at the foundation of trust in the NDA government. The nation waits confidently for 31 December and its attendant benefits to dawn, and is willing to wait a few more days despite some pain in order to ensure the better future promised by Prime Minister Modi.