Thread by @naukarshah

Dear PM @narendramodi, we screwed up yet again. Yep!

You could have said, we are with you (सदा आपके साथ).

Instead, you went with you are on your own (आत्म निर्भरता).

I know that's not what you thought by आत्म निर्भरता.

But that was what your policy response screamed . 1/n

Yes. There is going to be a detailed briefing today dear PM @narendramodi.

No! You can't get @nsitharaman to give your proxy.

You are the PM. You will have to listen, learn & understand. Debate and disagree too.

What, you need an hour?

Sure. Go ahead. But be quick 2/n

So what did we tell to those street vendors, who were beaten up, their carts toppled and materials destroyed?

To take a loan!

Yep.

I mean, even Town Vending Committees are not operational in most cities. Forget about vendor registration.

To them, we said, take a loan! 3/n

What did we tell to the farmers who had to dump their products for lack of demand, labour or transportation?

To take a loan!

Yep.

Farmers who are often pushed to the brink of suicides due to inability to repay, we are telling them in this crisis,

To take a loan!

Surely, we should give the best to the middle class. I mean they are our staunchest support group right?

So what did we tell them?

To take a loan!

Yep.

I forgot. It is real estate that pumps in money to the party. So yeah.

For now let middle class take a loan! 5/n

Those MSMEs, some call them entrepreneurs & stuff. We asked them to not lay off, continue salary, did not even offer them interest waiver for EMI moratorium. What did we tell them?

To take a loan!

Yep.

But, they cried the shrillest.

Okay.

Let them take a hell lot of loans!

I mean, if we were honest about the announced 20 lakh crore package, we could have written off the entire micro sector loans with just 4.62 lakh crores.

99% (6.3 Crores) MSME entrepreneurs are in micro sector.

But instead, we asked them

To take more loans! 7/n

What about the people who lend?

I mean, it is mostly NBFCs that have been lending to the last-mile?

And most of them are facing serious balance sheet crisis.

Well, let them take a loan.

But, banks won't lend that easily to NBFCs.

Who cares.

Ask them,

To take a loan! 8/n

A lot of people are asking for some relief in electricity bill.

It is natural right. When there is no income, it is difficult to make these running payments.

Okay okay. We have told discoms also,

To take a loan! 9/n

So, we just asked

Street vendors to take a loan,

Farmers to take a loan,

Middle class to take a loan,

MSMEs to take a loan,

NBFCs to take a loan,

DISCOMs to take a loan,

and all this when the future is going to remain highly uncertain for a while.

It'll backfire dear PM!

Also, dear PM @narendramodi, your health & your finance teams need to sit together.

Your economic response cannot be at loggerheads with your medical response.

But more on that later.

For now,

To "आत्म निर्भर" means to 'Take a Loan'!

To "आत्म निर्भर" means to 'Take a Loan'!