Five years since #demonetization. I was reporting the fallout from Uttar Pradesh. I met truck drivers who hadn’t eaten in days, retailers who were operating on goodwill alone and small businesses that had no choice but to shut down. Mr. Modi has still not said what it was all for
The economies of small towns in UP, like the Cermamic industry in Khurja or the bangle makers of Firozabad, suffered a body blow. I know many who have not been able to get back up.
I found that the biggest losers of Modi’s ill-thought misadventure was the unorganized sector. The lives of daily wage earners in cities like Noida and Ghaziabad (who survived solely on cash) were wrecked. They got pushed further down the poverty ladder.
There has been no acknowledgement, no apology from Narendra Modi for the damage caused by the disastrous policy to the lives of ordinary Indians.
Nothing but absolute respect for fellow journalists who were out there telling the stories of devastation all around us. You are all champs. But there were also “Titans” of the fraternity hero worshiping Modi and his supposed “masterstroke”. History will not forgive them.
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