Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was part of the country’s long-term anti-corruption fight, The Indian Express reported. At the final day of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s National Executive meeting, Modi said the Centre was committed to helping the poor.
“Corruption is a big social evil and [the] unregulated flow of currency [is] a big stumbling block in containing graft,” Modi said. The BJP also fully supports the idea of transparency in political funding, Modi said. The prime minister said the party workers should look at service for the poor as an “opportunity to serve” and not just a poll plank. “Serving people amounts to serving god,” said the prime minister.
At the meeting, BJP President Amit Shah praised Modi for the “surgical strikes” on militant camps along the Line of Control with Pakistan in September 2016. “For the first time in independent India, we gave a fitting reply by entering the enemy’s home…this one decision changed the way the world looks at India,” Shah said.
While both the BJP and Modi have promoted demonetisation’s positive effects to the public, the country has been dealing with a cash crunch since the move was implemented on November 9. On Thursday, President Pranab Mukherjee said demonetisation would lead to a temporary slowdown of the economy. “While I appreciate the thrust on a transition from the entitlement approach to an entrepreneurial one for poverty alleviation, I am not too sure that the poor can wait that long,” he had said.
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