Demonetisation hit poor but they forgave Modi: Arun Maira

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation hit the poor but they forgave him because they believed he was on their side and the move was aimed against "filthy rich people", says former member of the erstwhile Planning Commission Arun Maira. It was, however, yet to be known whether the rich got hurt, he added.

"People in our society are evidently upset with the rich having so much. Mr Modi and also other people like Mr Anna Hazare were listening to the people who were upset with the establishment — the rich people and the government, that is, the crony capitalism. And that is what the Anna Hazare’s movement was against. It was not only against the government but against the corrupt as well”, Maira said.

"So Mr Modi took that movement and made that (corruption) the message; this (demonetisation) is to hurt those people (the rich), therefore the other people suffering took it like 'wow!'. That's why I think the rich people like us better listen. Demonetisation should have woken us up that there is a big unrest in the country about us. Here is one person, Mr Modi, saying I will do this big jhatkafor you (the poor). Whether the rich got hurt or not, we do not know as yet. Certainly the poor got hurt but they forgave him because they thought 'you are on the side of the poor people against these filthy rich people'," he added. The former member of the Planning Commission also stressed that an economy should focus more on the welfare of the citizens instead of the gross domestic product (GDP) numbers.