Author Chetan Bhagat on Saturday decided to provide his own view of the Centre’s decision to de-recognise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as legal tender. He criticised the government’s poor execution of the demonetisation move and said it had only added to ordinary people’s suffering.
Bhagat took to Twitter to gripe. “To queue for several hours to find an empty ATM for Rs 2,000 of your own money is no fun. Execution of an idea as important as the idea,” he posted. He questioned if the government had thought the plan through before announcing it. “Incompatibility of notes, small limits, limited number of bank branches and the massive swapping required – did they run through scenarios?”
He further questioned the government on how changing the dimensions of the notes will resolve the issue of black money. “Am not sure how changing the physical dimensions of the notes helps in that. Let’s await more clarifications from govt on this,” he tweeted.
The author said the worst hit were the poor. He said that those who are on social media are comfortable with digital payments but the “real sufferers of the liquidity crunch” were not on social media. Bhagat posted a picture of people queuing up in front of a ration store during World War II and compared it to the serpentine lines outside ATMs.
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