One way to think about this is the objective is to win a bunch of upcoming state elections and retain power in the next national elections. NO ONE has ever bef

One way to think about this is the objective is to win a bunch of upcoming state elections and retain power in the next national elections. NO ONE has ever before in Indian politics made such a bold move. The Modi government made this move a couple of months before elections in the biggest states and suddenly the gossip amongst common folks in the street is all about the attempts by the corrupt rich to desperately get rid of old banknotes, how bankers are being arrested etc. etc. and not about the political stance of the party which some castes and the minority community have historically found alienating. From what I observe the corrupt in a soup appears to give most common folk much more satisfaction from schadenfreude than the inconvenience they are bearing