Narendra Modi, The Gamechanger

A transformative leader for those who believe in him and a polariser for his critics, Narendra Modi changed the narrative with his demonetisation gambit.

- Raj Chengappa

NARENDRA DAMODARDAS MODI is the eye of the storm. Perhaps storm is too mild a term to describe the economic hurricane the prime minister unleashed across the country on 8 November by demonetising high value currency notes. It sucked a mind-befuddling Rs 15 lakh crore into its towering vortex and rendered them void. It was the great leveller, sending the rich and the poor scurrying to banks to join the serpentine queues to exchange notes and withdraw new currency. It shook the very foundations of the Indian economy and depressed growth across key sectors. Even the Modi government admits that the adverse impact will not abate till March 2017, though it is confident that the economy will recover after that.

For the believers—and Modi claims the vast majority backs him—demonetisation represents a long overdue body blow to those who amassed wealth through dishonest means. The less well-to-do masses were willing to suffer the discomfort, as long as the rich got their comeuppance. They saw it as a game-changer, a radical cure for the cancerous venality that has spread to every cell of the body politic.

For the dissenters—and there is a growing legion that includes top economists—Modi is the master illusionist. They view demonetisation as one more in the long list of his jumlas—an economic sleight of hand— that Modi has played to draw a veil over his lacklustre performance. They declare that the demonetisation drive has failed in its primary objective of rooting out black money, that the pain it has wrought on the economy is bereft of any gain.