UP Elections 2017: Questions for BJP's bikers

Even after 100 days of demonetisation, we don't know if we are better or worse off

Newspaper reports suggest that the Bharatiya Janata Party plans to use bikers to explain the benefits of note ban to Uttar Pradesh voters – the state which is in the midst of an Assembly election. The question is what are the benefits that they can flaunt?

The voters, on their part, should also be ready to ask them questions when they flaunt the benefits, much like a tea advertisement on leading television channels.

Biker: The move led to unearthing of large amount of black money.

Voter: How much black money has been revealed? How many politicians, actors and builders were caught with black money?

Biker: The economy has been cleansed of its ill-gotten wealth (kaale dhan ka safaya ho gaya).

Voter: why are people still being caught with crores of new notes? How are they getting them? Isn’t black money being created again?

Biker: Pakistan-based counterfeiters were using notes to fund terrorism in India. Demonetisation has destroyed this.

Voter: How much money was in counterfeit notes? Recent reports say that Pakistan-based counterfeiters are already printing Rs 2000 notes. How will common man know the difference between counterfeit and new notes, given the huge change in their size, colour and features?

Biker: Demonetisation will boost economic growth as informal part of economy will now move to formal part of economy and become part of Gross Domestic Product (sabka vikas).

Voter: Wow, but when will it happen? At present, there are only job losses in the informal sector. Even the formal sector is struggling. When will jobs come back?

Biker: This is short-term pain for long-term gain (bas kuch dinon ki baat hain).

Voter: How short is short-term? (aur kitne din). PM had sought 50 days, now it is almost 100 days. When will gains come?

Biker: Banks have enough money to give you.

Voter: Which bank, sir? When demonetisation was announced, the notes in circulation were 17 lakh-odd crore. Recently, RBI said that around 10 lakh crore are in circulation – around 60 per cent. When will more notes come in?

Biker: Go digital. Why use notes? The government is subsidising digital transactions.

Voter: How long will the transactions be free? Why should I pay anyone for buying something? What if someone steals my money online?

When demonetisation was announced on November 8, it involved two key players – the central government and the Reserve Bank of India. Let’s turn to them for clues on its impact.

As finance minister announced in the recent Union Budget. The good news is that 148,000 people deposited around Rs 5 lakh crore. But even assuming that it is all black, taxpayers depositing this kind of cash are likely to be well prepared to defend themselves. The bad news: tax benefits to companies with turnover of Rs 50 crore (96 per cent of companies) shows the government knows this segment has been hardest hit. And of course, the much-maligned MGNREGA (by the same government in the past) has received the highest-ever allocation of Rs 48,000 crore.

The Reserve Bank of India’s recent policy says little except that 'the data is clouded after demonetisation, leading to difficulties in having a clear assessment of macro-economic situation, post November 8'. Clearly, the major impact of this move hasn’t been factored in even after 100 days. 

So, the BJP bikers are unlikely to have answers for most of the above questions. Instead they will resort to nationalism, desh prem, gau suraksha, anti-Romeo etc. Welcome to ‘clueless India’.