PM Narendra Modi says note ban for country, not party

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evoked former PM Indira Gandhi and a 1971 committee on fiscal policy to justify demonetisation and attack the Opposition, but this indicated how his party might face headwinds in poll-bound states.

Reiterating the government’s resolve to go after benami properties, Modi — addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentary party meeting — said, “Tell me if the party is bigger or the country.” 

The PM recalled the 1971 committee led by senior civil servant N N Wanchoo, which had recommended demonetisation. Alluding to a reference in a book, Modi said when then Union finance minister, YB Chavan, approached Indira Gandhi with the proposal, she reportedly asked, “ Only one question: Are no elections to be fought by the Congress party?”

He added the BJP puts the interest of the country over the interest of the party.

The PM’s speech was telecast deferred live on Doordarshan. This is the first time in the two-and-a-half years that the National Democratic Alliance, led by the BJP, has been in power at the Centre that Modi’s address to a party forum, usually in-camera, has been telecast.

Elections to five states, including the key Uttar Pradesh, are due by February-March. Several UP leaders, including its Members of Parliament, are of the view that demonetisation could scupper BJP’s chances. Some of them even conveyed their assessments to party chief Amit Shah at a meeting on Thursday.

The PM also targeted the Left, accusing them of compromising with their ideology as he recalled statements by late communist leaders Jyotirmoy Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet in support of demonetisation.

Modi also attacked former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who had called demonetisation “organised plunder and legalised loot”.

Modi quoted his comments, in 1991, to say that he once used “language of threat” against tax evaders but his voice has completely changed now. “Why? Because he is worried about his party not country,” Modi said.

He said the Opposition stalled Parliament earlier as well, but then it was done to protest scams, while now proceedings are being disrupted to protect the dishonest. Modi said the Congress government made a law against benami assets in 1988 but never notified it or framed rules and regulations, ensuring that the legislation never came into force. 

He expressed gratitude to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar for their “open support” to demonetisation.