Note ban stays out of election debates in Jewar
Farmers, traders, self-employed and salaried people feel that the sufferings of common man to get scrapped notes exchanged will have no bearing on the outcome of the polls.
The pros and cons of the Centre’s demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes are not topics of discussion in Jewar constituency ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Farmers, traders, self-employed and salaried people feel that the sufferings of common man to get scrapped notes exchanged will have no bearing on the outcome of the polls.
Jewar will go to polls on February 11.
Prime Ministrer Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of the high denomination banknotes on November 8, causing inconvenience to citizens across the country. Several people died allegedly while standing in long queues outside banks and ATMs.
“There is only one bank branch in our village. The cash inflow is yet to normalise here. No doubt I had to stand in the queue for long to get my old currency notes exchanged, but I am glad that those with loads of high denomination currency had to suffer as they could not get it exchanged. Their black money went down the drain,” Suraj Bhan Singh, a Rashtriya Lok Dal supporter, who runs a cyber café at Bhatta village in Jewar, said.
Gyanender Singh, a farmer from Parsaul village, agreed with Singh. “Farmers did not face any problem because of demonetisation. People in villages do not need much cash. Some people who had weddings in their family did face some inconvenience. But their relatives and neighbours helped them by arranging cash for them. But that phase is over now. Even those who had old notes at home felt their money would be safer in the bank and earn them some interest,” a BJP supporter said.
Some people , however, took it as a blessing in disguise. “Even spendthrifts became stingy. In the last couple of months, most people started spending responsibly. This resulted in some saving for them. Whether it had bad results for some and good for others, it is over. Now, nobody talks about cash crunch and most people are not at all concerned about what happened in the last couple of months,” Suraj Pal, a Bahujan Samaj Party supporter from Mirzapur, who drives an autorickshaw, said.