The BJP's Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan "Shotgun" Sinha touched off a political storm once again on Wednesday night when he apparently hit out at a survey - conducted via the Prime Minister's mobile phone app - that showed over 90 per cent of respondents support demonetisation.
"Let us stop living in a fools paradise and getting carried away by planted stories and surveys conducted by vested interests," Shotgun tweeted on Wednesday night. He removed the tweet after it triggered off a storm within the BJP.
"This is the first time I have withdrawn a tweet because later I came to know that the PM had released the survey," Sinha told The Telegraph in an interview.
"I first thought it was a survey conducted by a professional agency."
The state BJP is furious. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Prem Kumar demanded that the party's central leadership take action against the MP, and state party president Mangal Pandey tweeted back: "Shatrughanji why do you support Congress indirectly? If you love the corrupt and black money so much you should join the Congress."
In a conversation with Amit Bhelari of The Telegraph, Sinha remained defiant and said his stand was based on ground realities. Excerpts:
The Telegraph: Several Bihar BJP leaders are demanding action against you...
Shatrughan Sinha: They are rejected, dejected, humiliated and defeated leaders who do not have an understanding of the subject and are giving unwarranted statements against me because they are envious of my social and political status. I do not even know who the state president of BJP is. The leadership there is scheduled to be changed. They are time-pass leaders who are trying to hit me for their own political survival.
There is a perception that you have spoken against demonetisation...
I am the first one in the party who congratulated the PM for his bold and timely step. The intention of the PM is unquestionable; black money funds hawala, drugs and terrorism. The PM has taken a very bold step.
Then what are you objecting to?
I am questioning the team of the PM which has let him down. Why did they not take proper steps before implementing the decision so that a chaotic situation would not arise? Even the honourable Supreme Court has commented on the chaos the decision has created. Relief measures have been announced after the implementation - like housewives can deposit Rs 2.5 lakh, farmers can draw Rs 25,000. Why did they not announce these measures earlier? There are common people standing in queue for their hard-earned money, getting angrier and angrier every day. They have been our supporters. My statements are not anti-national or anti-party. The party is bigger than any individual and the nation is bigger than any party. Printing of Rs 2,000 notes may take care of space crunch, but it does not take care of cash crunch.
It appears you are joining the Opposition's chorus...
To the best of my knowledge, no party has opposed action against black money. People like Mamata Banerjee are mass leaders and I have tremendous respect for them. They are only asking why the team of the PM did not do their homework before implementing the decision.
What according to you are the drawbacks of demonetisation?
First, who gave you the right to fix what amount of a person's hard-earned money he or she can withdraw? Second, it is wrong to equate black money with the savings made by women. Our mothers and sisters save money over many years... they give it to the family during weddings, for education or if somebody falls ill. The PM is not to be blamed. It's the geniuses.
Do you think more persons should have been taken into confidence?
Yes. The advice of persons like L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie should have been taken. Our party has bankers and experts like Jayant Sinha. I recall reading an article in The New York Times in which the former chief adviser of the World Bank declared that demonetisation leads to economic chaos. What will one do in the first week of December when the salaries reach banks? I have spoken for them who have been our voters. There is talk of plastic money. How do you pay a rickshaw-wala, a chaiwala or autowala who demands change? They run on chillar (small change) economy.
What do you think should be done?
Corrective measures have to be taken to get rid of the chaos. Once again I would like to assert that I fully support the PM's decision. I am speaking only for the party.
