“Demonetization is Independent India’s biggest scam ever. Modi will use the money deposited by common people in banks to write off loans worth ₹8 lakh crore for his corporate friends.”
This is the kind of clamoring AAP’s social media channels, Barkha Dutt’s supposedly top trending interview of Kejriwal, and live rallies/broadcasts from Kejriwal have been full of in the past 2-3 days.
I still can’t believe that 2 years back, I fought for this man against my friends and relatives. I don’t want to talk about the epic ethical and moral fall of Kejriwal – that topic deserves an article on its own. Here, I would concentrate on how bizarre his logic and arguments have become.
I am no banker or tax officer but I am literate enough to know that
a) Banks don’t need money to waive off loans or non-performing assets (NPAs); going by the very definition of a loan, money has already been given to the borrower in the past.
b) A couple of days back, SBI Chief Arundhati Bhattacharya had categorically stated (incidentally on Barkha’s show) that money being deposited in banks would not be used to waive off loans/NPAs. Also, banks are not going to give that money to the government.
c) People who are depositing their money today can choose to withdraw it next month. Going by the kind of urgency and hurriedness people have showed in depositing the money, most of them will probably withdraw the money with same eagerness (once the withdrawal limits are taken off).
If Modi gives all/most of this money to his friends, how will banks function? Again, SBI chief had reiterated that the deposited money is customer’s money and it has to be kept in the bank so that it can be made available to the customer whenever he/she wishes to.
d) Usually companies/individuals whose loans are written off have either already declared bankruptcy or are on the verge of it. Do you think Modi’s supposed corporate masters/friends (Opposition usually mentions Ambani and Adani) are on the verge of bankruptcy? Do you think Mukesh Ambani’s financial books are similar to that of Mallyas?
I am sure if I researched a bit more, I could find more holes in this Swiss cheese of theories from Kejriwal.
So why is Kejrwal going around shouting this fallacy about demonetization at the top of his lungs. Is he really naïve/stupid enough to not know or understand these basic facts? If that’s the case, I think Independent India’s biggest scam is how this man went to IIT and later, became a top income tax officer. “इसकी जांच जरूर होनी चाहिए जी”.
In my opinion, a much more probable scenario is that he fully understands all this but he is relying on all of us being stupid.
Well, he has good reasons to do so; for decades, the likes of Lalu, Karunanidhi and Mamta and have proven that a majority of us listen to, and blindly follow only the force fed headlines. Most of us pick a political master based on caste, religion, and petty selfish gains promised to us – hell, even based on how fair or cute the political master looks. We never apply our own mind to analyze, understand and question what our favorite politician says or does. We only like to watch news from TV channels favorable to our dearest party/leader.
We love to find, read and talk about stuff that re-enforces – not question – our existing notions and beliefs. Even if we do see something wrong, we somehow convince ourselves that it’s not. By the way, this is true across the board. If AAPTARDs exist, so do BHAKTs.
In short, over the years, we have all built a custom-made goggle for ourselves and we see everything through that goggle. I guess every now and then, we all need to follow the great Satish Kaushik’s advice.
“गोगल उतार, दुनिया देख”