Demonetization

Forget the hubris of Narendra Modi, and his coterie, who came up with the plan to make a majority of cash held by the citizens of this country worthless. Forget the vicious insinuations that followed from the sacrificer-in-chief who declared, and continues to do so in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that everyone who voiced disapproval was naturally one who had lots of wealth that was earned in a wrong manner (not having given it to the corrupt governments and bureaucracies that have kept many of us in misery and poverty for way too long; The finance minister in fact said, and I am paraphrasing, that people have gotten crazy rich as a result. I can't see how not paying taxes can give one riches not in accordance with the value the person was adding. May be the minister was talking about the ministries and the bureaucracies that routinely harass the common man. May be he thinks that the only way to get rich is by conning people.)

Forget the vacillating leader and his ministers who gave reasons (none that point to impending doom) including national security, black money, and to top them all, the need to push a billion to a cashless world. Forget the indignity of being forced to stand in queues to deposit and withdraw one's own monies. Forget the ensuing vigilantism, of citizens reporting other citizens carrying bags of their own cash. Forget the fact that one of the most corrupt departments in this country is now going to track our deposits and decide how much of our wealth is legal.

Forget the disruptions in the lives of millions of ordinary people minding their own honest business, making ends meet, taking care of themselves and their families. Forget the baptists who see in the leader the god who will show them the shortcut to heaven. Forget the shameless bootleggers (the dude at PayTm keeps coming to mind who sees the urgent national need to move to a cashless economy) who will benefit greatly from the misery of most and can barely hide their joy behind the veil of nationalism.

Do we also forget those who died because of the criminal negligence of those who forced this upon us? How many deaths that can be directly attributed to the negligence of the democratically elected before they serve some time? How long before we keep them in check? How long before the law applies to them as it must?

Btw, if you want to go cashless do so. Do so voluntarily. That would be the bottom up way. The way anyone who believes in good governance and small government will see as the only way. If all are okay with demonetization of such scale, then our great leader could have simply used his oratory to convince people to put their cash in the banks. He could have extolled to them the merits of doing so. Note that none of this would have needed facts in support. Having done so, he could have allowed them to make their choice. Instead, he shocks the masses and declares that those not okay with it are the crooks who did not get enough notice to use their notes.

That leaves us with the problem of black money. For one, not much is in cash form. Also, for once, can the state give me a good reason to part with my income? All evidence points to the contrary. Can we have a smaller state as our rather emotional leader had promised when begging for votes?