India is still struggling to come to terms with demonetisation, also known as currency exchange and remonetisation, or whatever else the government is now calling it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock announcement, withdrawing all the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in circulation and the subsequent chaos has been hard to comprehend. Which is why commentators have taken to using analogies to explain the move.

Here are all the things demonetisation has been compared to.

  • Labour pain: “A mother undergoes huge labour pain while giving birth to a child. But when she hears the child of the newborn, she feels the greatest joy,” said Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Venkaiah Naidu, who was then echoed by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
  • Nasbandi (sterilisation): “This demonetisation reminds of the nasbandi [sterilisation] drive of ’70s. Bina soche, bina blood/oxygen, straight castration. This is economic nasbandi,” said venture capitalist Shankar Sharma.
  • Nasbandi, again: “This notebandi would prove nasbandi but only for the hoarders of black money,” said Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
  • Sucking out blood: “Cash is like blood throughout the economy and if you suck out 85%  of the blood from somebody and replace it with 5% of the blood that person will collapse,” said economist Arun Kumar.
  • Laxative: “Demonetisation is like giving a laxative. The stuff will come out but if nothing is done to improve digestion, it will accumulate again,” wrote TCAS Raghavan of the Business Standard. 
  • Liposuction: “As one commentator noted, demonetisation is like liposuction: it represents a one-time reduction in body fat. But if the body wishes to maintain its new physique, a healthy diet and regular exercise are required,” wrote Milan Vaishnav, senior Carnegie associate.
  • Clearing ponds: “Small fishes are dying, while big crocodiles are enjoying. Demonetisation is like PM clearing the pond to kill the crocodiles. Not realising crocodiles can live on land as well,” said Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.
  • A flood: “During a flood, the cat, the snake, the mouse, all cling to the upright banyan tree. The cat then doesn’t fear the snake, the mouse doesn’t fear the cat. They all wait for the flood to recede. That’s what the Opposition parties are doing,” said Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah.
  • Prostitution: “You decriminalise it and good thing is that it comes out in public... But if you make it illegal the results are worse, like less protection for women; it is that kind of problem,” said 2016 Economics Nobel winner Bengt Holmström.
  • Firebombing in World War II: “The impact of firebombing was far worse than the atom bomb. Narendra Modi has done similar firebombing through demonetisation and burnt entire India,” said Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. 
  • Indian Premier League: “Demonetisation... like the IPL, involves enormous amounts of money, has seen rules made and changed on the fly, shifted goalposts with ease, found loud drum-beaters, and led to predictable corruption,” wrote Suresh Menon in The Hindu. 
  • Shooting the tyres of a racing car: “If the initial shock creates adverse expectations, the economy’s growth trajectory could be derailed. In a booming economy, blanket demonetisation is a little bit like shooting at the tyres of a racing car,” said economist Jean Drèze. 
  • A motor accident: “When a speeding car hits a wall, it comes to a standstill before it gets repaired and moves on. So that’s the only analogy I’d like to use for something like this,” said Kenneth Andrade, founder of Old Bridge Capital. 
  • Moon mission: “A scheme of this nature has never happened anywhere else in the world before. It’s revolutionary. It’s like John F Kennedy saying we’re going to put a man on the moon,” said NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.