I'm not sure this is the place for such a discussion but I'll have a go :
1) demonization was sold as something to bring Indias black money back into the banks. At that point we had one of the most talented economists in the world raghuram rajan in charge of the RBI. The same person who predicted the western financial crash, was laughed at and called a luddite but turned out to be right. He is on record stating that demonization is going to be a failure.
They replaced him and went ahead and when it became clear that the scheme was not really working with people finding loopholes to bring their money into the system they moved the goalposts to becoming a "cashless economy". If that was truly the case the whole fiasco could have been avoided with a gradual shift towards electronic payments which is now happening organically and would have avoided a world of pain to the people living in villages
2) aadhar is a great idea, one which is needed and one which the Supreme Court has upheld. However this is extraordinarily sensitive data and needs to be handled in an appropriate manner. When the system has been continuously hacked by Israelis and Russians and journalists pointing out the problems with exemplary investigative journalism their response was to discredit the journalists rather than fix the damn thing which is appalling.
The constitution bit is opening a whole can of worms but the cold hard truth is that the harder they push this the more the balkanization of India becomes a possibility. Southern political giants like DMK, Stalin and Karunanidhi have ensured that Tamil pride is a core belief for the Tamilans that is intrinsically tied to the Tamil language. I think they even have a law banning public signs in hindi and other southern states have threatened to do the same. The telugus are similar to them and even though kanadigas are more laid back they too will refuse to speak to hindi. You can forget about convincing the Malyalis. There is a reason the BJP is unable to make inroads into Southern India.
Nehrus greatest achievement was building a collective sense of Indian identity(apart from Khalistani terrorists) that allows us to keep our regional sense of self as well. Even Europe with all its money and 'enlightenment' has not managed that and while I appreciate that the BJP aggressive nationalism now ensures that as we enter a time of great change a core Indian sense of self will be central to it all and we won't lose all of our history and traditions the language push is one they are destined to fail at.
I've been to an RSS shaka and here is an uncomfortable truth as well. I have no love lost for Muslims worldwide but Indian Muslims were a different breed. They may have stayed separate but there were zero home grown terrorist attacks outside kashmir till the RSS Kar sevaks went and tore down the babri masjid in broad daylight. The Muslims then bombed Mumbai and the rest as they say is history. It was unnecessary, divisive and extremely partisan but it gave them power so hey ho eh?
1) demonization was sold as something to bring Indias black money back into the banks. At that point we had one of the most talented economists in the world raghuram rajan in charge of the RBI. The same person who predicted the western financial crash, was laughed at and called a luddite but turned out to be right. He is on record stating that demonization is going to be a failure.
They replaced him and went ahead and when it became clear that the scheme was not really working with people finding loopholes to bring their money into the system they moved the goalposts to becoming a "cashless economy". If that was truly the case the whole fiasco could have been avoided with a gradual shift towards electronic payments which is now happening organically and would have avoided a world of pain to the people living in villages
2) aadhar is a great idea, one which is needed and one which the Supreme Court has upheld. However this is extraordinarily sensitive data and needs to be handled in an appropriate manner. When the system has been continuously hacked by Israelis and Russians and journalists pointing out the problems with exemplary investigative journalism their response was to discredit the journalists rather than fix the damn thing which is appalling.
The constitution bit is opening a whole can of worms but the cold hard truth is that the harder they push this the more the balkanization of India becomes a possibility. Southern political giants like DMK, Stalin and Karunanidhi have ensured that Tamil pride is a core belief for the Tamilans that is intrinsically tied to the Tamil language. I think they even have a law banning public signs in hindi and other southern states have threatened to do the same. The telugus are similar to them and even though kanadigas are more laid back they too will refuse to speak to hindi. You can forget about convincing the Malyalis. There is a reason the BJP is unable to make inroads into Southern India.
Nehrus greatest achievement was building a collective sense of Indian identity(apart from Khalistani terrorists) that allows us to keep our regional sense of self as well. Even Europe with all its money and 'enlightenment' has not managed that and while I appreciate that the BJP aggressive nationalism now ensures that as we enter a time of great change a core Indian sense of self will be central to it all and we won't lose all of our history and traditions the language push is one they are destined to fail at.
I've been to an RSS shaka and here is an uncomfortable truth as well. I have no love lost for Muslims worldwide but Indian Muslims were a different breed. They may have stayed separate but there were zero home grown terrorist attacks outside kashmir till the RSS Kar sevaks went and tore down the babri masjid in broad daylight. The Muslims then bombed Mumbai and the rest as they say is history. It was unnecessary, divisive and extremely partisan but it gave them power so hey ho eh?