In a televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a message to citizens. Of course many people thought it to be another episode of his programme Mann ki Baat. However PM’s speech evoked mixed reactions from citizens to the extent that most messages on social media pronounced it as either the doom’s day or the descend upon heaven. After being critical of the situation that arose in the next couple of days with long queues of people in front of banks and ATM machines not working, in contrary to what the PM and the Finance Minister had promised to the nation, the system is not working smoothly. Opposition parties questioned the timing of such a decision taken by the government. According to me the government may have received a tip off from intelligence agencies of a possible large consignment of fake currencies of high denominations will be circulated into India.
Netizens on social media groups were at best arm chair standees at the banks, for they only helped in spreading the chaos among citizens. Ofcourse the common man might have faced difficulties but haven’t we seen people standing in queue for watching a cricket match of Rajnikant starrer movie.
It is sad to observe that most queuing outside banks are the educated and IT savvy crowd that books cinema tickets online or on an app, but could not transfer money online. Man ki Baat has opened a new chapter in the Indian economy and there were accolades all the way and hence leave alone those carping critics to eat back their words once we achieve a stable economy with the tension of terrorism die and no fake notes to threaten us all the time in the market.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
