The currency ban has triggered an internal crisis within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Many leaders of the party find the decision impractical.
So when party president Amit Shah called a high level meeting of MPs and MLAs to extol the virtues of the ban to the people at large, most of the latter were squeamish.
They were told to put up posters, hoardings and banners in their respective constituencies and make people understand ‘how the currency ban is PM Modi’s historic step’ to combat terrorism and black money. Sources say the legislators knew well that with the country on fire over the issue, they could be barbecued publicly if they went about saying such things!
Days went by, but Shah’s order seemed to have gone unheard, or in any case, ignored, as walls and billboards did not carry any such advertisement.
Shah went ranting and roving. But the party legislators turned the table on him, saying that the currency ban itself made it impossible for them to praise currency ban!
They told him that ninety per cent of the business of posters, banners and hoardings run on hard cash, and the advertising agencies and printers are not accepting old currency.
So the planned countrywide show flopped, leaving the party to make up partly for the fiasco by pasting Agra with ban-extolling posters and banners ahead of the PM’s rally there on November 20.