The Prime Minister lost little time leading a choir lauding
the people for being prepared to suffer “inconvenience” when backing up his
demonetisation drive to eliminate black money. The premature kudos backfired.
It was a different tune being sung later when inconvenience became intolerable,
and horror-stories were being told about normality disrupted – more than a
lament of having to wait in a queue to get enough cash to continue with the
burden to which life had been reduced. And there was no proverbial light at the
end of the tunnel, the “relaxations” reluctantly announced had only token
effect.

To recall the agonies of those who went without essentials,
the impact on pre-scheduled marriage ceremonies, the collapse of small
businesses, etc., would be pointless. Pointless because the government, the
Prime Minister and finance minister included, opted to “brazen it out” – aware
that there were still years to go before frustration could find expression in
the ballot box. Worse than the indifference to the sufferings was the sinister
diversionary campaign to slam all those complaining as supporters of
tax-evaders – the same way that those who protested the extra-constitutional
execution of SIMI activists in Bhopal were dubbed terrorism-sympathisers. That
the Prime Minister resorted to a combination of threats and playing the
innocent “victim” was telling – it exposed the bankruptcy of the government in
tackling a situation of its own creation. Suggesting that the lakhs in queues
at banks were all tax-evaders was the ultimate insult to the citizen – or, as
the netas must eventually realise, the voter.

What the government – both politicians and officials – must
find the moral courage to accept is that the public dismay is not directed at
the principle of demonetisation as a move against black money (had it been such
a protest there might have been violent rioting) but at the monumental
ineptitude with which the move was made. The finance minister has offered a
series of “explanations” for the monetary system being thrown out of gear: a
display of hindsight when a minister is required to exhibit foresight. It is
such incompetence that appalls as much as the sustained inefficiency that permitted
a parallel economy to take root and flourish.

A crime for which the man- in-the-street is being crucified.
What the Opposition now says is less relevant than the moaning of the folks in
the queues. The politicians have used skewed metaphors, some have spoken of a
“mission” against unaccounted wealth, others of a financial emergency. The
truth is that if ever there was a political “surgical strike” it was on the
night of 24 June 1975: in contrast the post-demonetisation essay of
Modi-Jaitley registers as the “mother of all botch-ups”.