Demonetization - Modi’s Historic Move to attack currency of corruption by M J Akbar - Minister of States for External Affairs

Note: Salient Points from the article are given below and the readers are advised to click the link here to read the full text of the essay – LINK 

Akbar remarked: All cash transactions are not corrupt, but, every corrupt transaction is in cash and high denomination notes are the currency of corruption. If you want to challenge corruption root and branch, you cannot merely trim the branches periodically, but, you have to cut at the roots.

Elite of India - willingly or unwillingly - has poisoned the political and economic systems that embolden those high ups with unaccounted wealth making them to believe that they were above the law. Their comfort zone has been wrecked by Modi’s move of demonetization which is only a beginning and in 2017, those who turned corruption into a doctrine will pay a heavy price.

Those powerful corrupts - in politics and in governments - had misjudged the various schemes to convert black money into white money floated by Modi in the recent past to ‘declare the black money, pay the penalty therefor and start with a clean slate’ and hence it is quite predicable that most of them had not utilised this opportunity, instead they had treated this offer as just another form of window dressing - but, alas, they forgot that PM is Modi and not Manmohan Singh!

Their comfort zone of 70 long years, when threatened by demonetization, used all their powers, contacts, influences to sabotage the government move by trying to portray some inevitable pain in process through exaggeration of fear which was on full display.

But those powerful corrupt lobbies had miscalculated the mood of the large section of Indian public.

90% of India is honest, and this 90% has been thirsting for someone to assault this pervasive monster with sustainable commitment. This India was willing to accept passing discomfort as the collateral price of the struggle against cancer. This is why such a massive change took place without violence. This is probably unprecedented.

Some of 10% corrupts were also caught red handed and there were also some belonging to ruling party - but, there were no phone calls to save them!

Rs.32 crore from a business man in Chennai leading to the search and arrest of Tamilnadu Chief Secretary and Parasmal Lodha, a Kolkatta businessman’s premises raided as well.

And again: Rs 48 crore seized in Bengaluru, Rs 26 lakh in Punjab, Rs 3.86 crore caught in Kolkata, an air charter service grounded for ferrying Rs 3.5 crore in demonetised notes.

But, no opposition party had referred to these raids and capture of old high denomination notes and also new denomination notes of Rs.2000 and Rs.500 in large numbers. Fortunately, opposition had not accused the Government for these raids and capture!

Only the mid night announcement of Demonetization had unearthed these black money with  black minded people.

Now the Government’s slow and measured remonetisation will bring back the normalcy at any time. But the objective of Less Cash Economy is being vigorously pursued and lightning steps are being taken to bring the public to the Less Cash Environment so as to curb future corruption.