Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “badly implemented” decision of demonetisation.
“The PM thought that he will go down in the history as someone who got rid of black money, but now he will go down in the history as someone who was not fit to be the Prime Minister and who did not realise the meaning of demonetisation,” Mr. Jogi told The Hindu .
‘Eye on polls’Lashing out at the BJP government, Mr. Jogi, the chief of the Chhattisgarh Janata Congress, said the demonetisation decision was taken with an eye on the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
“It was a badly planned move. The same objective could have been achieved by planning its implementation in a better manner. When they [the BJP] realised that they could not recover the NPAs [non-performing assets] from industrialists, they thought that they would recover it from the common public. The common man has suffered badly, especially in rural areas where there are no banks. You have restricted co-operative banks from changing notes. It is becoming difficult for farmers and common people in the rural areas to manage the day-to-day life,” Mr. Jogi said.
He also predicted that demonetisation would damage the prospects of the BJP in the elections.
“The only saving for him [the PM] is that the elections are two-three years away and the people have a short memory. But this time, even the common public will find it difficult to forget this as they had to stand in queues for hours for their own money. There is hardly any way to deal with it apart from a partial roll back or some concessions at least in rural areas. People are being forced to walk hundreds of kilometres for their own money in rural parts,” he added.
Killing of tribalsTo a question on the alleged extra-judicial killings of tribals in Chhattisgarh, Mr. Jogi said the controversial officer, under whose watch the alleged excesses were happening, was “once very close to him.”
“Even Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Raman Singh have no control over the administration in Bastar. The majority of encounters are fake and 75 per cent of those who are surrendering as Maoists are common people. If this continues, we will never be able to get rid of Maoist insurgency in Bastar. Being a tribal, I don’t even feel like going there [Bastar]. Both sides [the police and the Maoists] are killing people at will. Even senior journalists and academicians like Nandini Sundar are being targeted. The government’s approach is totally wrong with respect to Bastar,” Mr. Jogi said.
