Silence of Shiv Sena, Akali Dal & LJP is in sharp contrast to unequivocal praise for demonetisation last year, which they celebrated as ‘anti-black money day’.
New Delhi: As Thursday marked the second anniversary of the contentious demonetisation exercise and the ruling BJP put forth a muted and desultory reaction, its allies in the government decided to maintain complete distance, evidently wary of its political and electoral consequences.
Of the 26 cabinet ministers, three belong to allies — all part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. They include Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena and Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the Akali Dal.
All three ministers remained silence on Twitter and were careful not to issue any statements. They, however, had tweeted with vigour on the first anniversary of demonetisation last year, celebrating it as ‘anti-black money day’ — a phrase coined by the government.
Twitter is perceived as a key platform for politicians to communicate their messages — both through what is said and what is left unsaid. The symbolism of the allies’ silence on the social media platform, therefore, is hardly lost on anyone.
Also read: Demonetisation — from place of pride to albatross around the BJP’s neck
Anti-black money day to silence
“The #AntiBlackMoneyDay or Demonetisation carried out by our @PMOIndia was a much needed exercise for our nations Security Integrity & Stability. The very need of the hour at that point of time successfully accomplished. #DeMoWins,” Geete had tweeted.
“A year after historic Demonetisation #AntiBlackMoneyDay , let’s take pledge to accelerate this transformational movement against BlackMoney,” read Paswan’s tweet posted last year.
Badal had tweeted about the “multi dimensional success of demonetization”, along with a graphic from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s app, listing the achievements of the initiative.
In sharp contrast, the three cabinet ministers chose to remain silent this year, reflecting the growing unease with what has turned out to be a sore point for this government.
The BJP itself was muted in its reaction, with PM Modi choosing to skip tweeting on the day marking two years of his pet exercise.
In an indication of the concern among BJP leaders of the adverse electoral impact of demonetisation if brought back to the voters’ consciousness, it was largely cabinet ministers who are Rajya Sabha MPs who tweeted Thursday — mostly just retweeting either the party’s or Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s tweets.
Of the 15 cabinet ministers from the BJP who are Lok Sabha MPs, as many as nine skipped any mention of the exercise on Twitter, while all cabinet ministers who are Rajya Sabha MPs, except Social Justice & Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, put up posts.
Also read: Two years on, remembering demonetisation and all the mayhem it caused
Rajnath, Sushma stay away
Some of the senior ministers and Lok Sabha leaders who stayed away include Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.
However, what was most jarring was the conspicuous silence of cabinet ministers from parties that are BJP allies and their reluctance to even share Jaitley’s blog post on the social media platform, being perceived as a snub to the ruling party.
Sources in the BJP, who did not wish to be identified, said the BJP leadership is “well aware of the discomfort of its allies” with the policy decision and that they now view it as more of a “baggage”.
The sources also said “while BJP leaders have to maintain a brave front, allies have no such compulsions and in fact, have the luxury of distancing themselves”.
Perhaps because they were not required to reach the half way mark, the allies have been a dispirited lot. The Shiv Sena insists it will fight the Assembly and Parliament election on its own. The Akali Dal is going through a difficult time, unclear when it can hope to return to power in Punjab.