Should road to corruption stop or should there be Bharat Bandh?: PM Modi

November 28, 2016

In a dig at the Opposition , Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked if the road to black money and graft should be blocked, or whether there should be a 'Bharat Bandh' instead. & quot I am stopping black money and corruption and some are giving call for Bharat Bandh,& quot he said at BJP's 'Parivartan Yatra' rally here in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Without naming any opposition party, Modi said, & quot We are trying to curb corruption and they are organising 'Bharat Bandh'. Should there be 'Bharat Bandh' or should the route of corruption be blocked?& quot Several opposition parties have called for a 'Bharat Bandh' tomorrow to protest against the Centre's demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.Corruption and black money have ruined India, and the nation should now become free from all such evils, PM Modi said.He also praised Indians for accepting his government's decision despite the hardships they've faced, as he's done before in recent days. & quot I salute the people of this country. Despite facing inconvenience, people have accepted demonetization drive,& quot he said. PM Modi encouraged people to start using e-wallets instead of cash. & quot Era of wallets has gone, you can use your mobile phone as your bank branch with the same ease with which you take snaps and send them to friends,& quot Modi said He also urged young people to take the initiative in the process of making financial transactions transparent using technology. & quot I urge the youth to train other people how mobile technology can lead to transparent transactions. It will choke black money,& quot he said. Prime Minister Modi today also attacked the Samajwadi Party government in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh for being & quot unconcerned& quot about the hardships faced by people, and asked if its family feud was over - so that it could concentrate on implementing central schemes for farmers. He criticised the Akhilesh Yadav government for not implementing the schemes to benefit farmers though the Centre was paying for them. & quot I want to ask UP government if you have settled your dispute, implement crop insurance scheme in UP. I don't think they (UP government) can do that... They don't have interest in solving problems,& quot he said. He was apparently referring to the crisis within the Yadav family that pitted Akhilesh against his father Mulayam and uncle Shivpal months ahead of the UP elections. Modi said that if previous governments thought of changing lives in villages, farmers and the poor wouldn't have been facing problems. & quot The time has gone when those in government called themselves rulers. I am your 'sewak' (I'm at your service)... It's my responsibility to work for you. You have given me a lot. I am indebted to you,& quot he added. Stating that cane dues amounted to a whopping Rs 22,000 crore in 2014-15, he said people had got & quot used to& quot it, so much so that they did not even complain. & quot The UP government was also unconcerned. When we formed government at the Centre, we decided to take care of cane growers. Now only very little payment is pending,& quot he said. Highlighting his government's initiatives, Modi said sugarcane farmer's dues were transferred to their accounts directly, to ensure there were no middlemen. He added that he'd also asked sugar mills to install machinery to produce ethanol, which could be used as an alternative to petrol and diesel. & quot If sugar prices fall, produce ethanol. We won't let cane growers die...The sugar mills have produced 100 crore litre of ethanol that is a record for the country. This is used in vehicles and saved on import of fuel,& quot he said.

OUR TAKE

The government has asked for fifty days for the completion of this anti-corruption step. But does the country have the patience to live up to those number of days without cash in hand? Without the means to make ends meet? It might just prove to be too costly for the government. Only time will tell. But what we know for sure is that the demonetization has hit the country and it can also be in fact, called a & lsquo Bharat Bandh'.