The Ostrich Syndrome

AHMEDABAD: Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet announced that the Narendra Modi mobile application available on various platforms including Android and iOS now has a survey cum feedback form using which people can inform him as to what they feel about the decision to demonetise 500/1000 notes.

A country where mobile internet reaches only 9% of the rural population according to Feb 2016 statistics, this is a tactical way of collecting purely urban sentiments. Even in urban areas, a majority of users of the application would be those who are supporters of Mr Modi and BJP. What PM Modi seeks is not feedback, but some numbers that can be thrown at the media who will splash it without giving a contextual background.

In fact, the feedback of the demonetisation drive reached the Prime Minister a while back. The manner in which he played the victim card by first appearing to breakdown in his speech after returning from Japan, suggesting that people are out to kill him, and then making his mother stand in a queue to exchange money, made it evident that the feedback he received was not very good. Not often does PM Modi exhausts his 3 'brahmastra' namely 'tears', 'people out to kill me' and 'my old mother' in 2 consecutive days.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have tried to do a little bit of social media data mining to collect user generated feedback in terms of videos from different parts of India. I have posted vides from Bhagalpur in Bihar to Pallel village in Manipur. While we urban middle class folks have the right to complain about the long queues (yes, you can complain despite soldiers standing at the border), the issue that we face is essentially that of lack of access to banking facilities.

However, based on my research, the crisis that the rural areas and the people employed in the informal sector is of a different proportion altogether. From farmers having to sell their crops at hugely reduced rates to farming labour having no jobs because the farmers who own the land have no cash to pay, the agriculture business is probably the worst hit. A large percentage of rural economy is based on cash and hence they are the worst hit.

Here's a brief compilation of videos over the past couple weeks:

The Citizen Bureau Adds: Meanwhile Parliament continued to be hit, as the Opposition insisted on an intervention by the Prime Minister. The Houses were adjourned yet again at different points in the day with the Rajya Sabha in particular insisting that the PM, by staying away from the Upper House, was violating Constitutional norms. BSP leader Mayawati spoke first for the entire Opposition raising the issue. Along with other leaders she said that PM Modi was not concerned about the poor, and that by ignoring the Opposition he was showing scant respect for Parliament.

Outside West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee organised a public meeting in Delhi where she spoke, lashing out at the Prime Minister and the government for causing distress to the poor. Interestingly, Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav joined her at the rally, despite the fact that his party colleague and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been supporting the Prime Minister on the issue of demonetisation.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wondered at the Prime Minister’s priorities, saying he was more concerned about speaking at a music concert than in speaking to the Members of Parliament. PM was present in the Lok Sabha but did not speak.