CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetisation move a 'mad Tughlaq firmaan' (decree) at a Left protest in Kerala. He also accused the Centre of creating anarchy in Kerala’s financial system.
Yechury was speaking at a protest led by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the decision to ban exchange of demonetised currency at district co-operative banks.
Likening Modi’s demonetisation moves to policies of the 14th Century Sultan of Delhi, Yechury said, “This is the first state in the country where the ruling LDF is sitting on a dharna in front of the RBI and this is the first time this is happening in this country after the PM's mad Tughlaq firmaan,” Yechury said.
Among his many disastrous policy moves, Muhammad bin Tughlaq attempted to introduce currency in the form of copper and brass coins, instead of coins made of precious metals like gold and silver. The shift, however resulted in major forgery, and was such a failure that it had to be withdrawn just eight days after it was introduced.
Yechury said that the Centre’s decisions were anarchic in nature, and sought to deliver the ominous message that the lives of the citizens were under the control of the PM.
Speaking at the protest, Kerala party veteran VS Achuthanandan took Yechury’s analogy a step further. Coming down heavily on both the BJP and Modi, VS said that the PM’s decisions had made him the people’s enemy. He also said that the Prime Minister and the BJP appear untroubled by the problems faced by the people.
Predicting that demonetisation woes would lead people to vote strongly against the BJP in the 2019 elections, he said, “With his decisions, Modi is actually proving to be Tughlaq’s guru.”
With widespread coverage of the troubles faced by common people due to demonetisation, various media outlets and opposition politicians including Manish Tewari of the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP, have seized on Tughlaq as the best analogy for the Centre' sudden policy decision.
(All photographs by Sreekesh Raveendran Nair)