Amid heavy criticism over demonetising currency by the opposition and people’s impatience with the long queues at banks and ATM(s), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday broke down as he came up with an emotional response, saying he was prepared for the consequences of the steps being taken by the government.
“I know the forces up against me, they may not let me live… they may ruin me because their loot of 70 years is in trouble, but am prepared,” the Prime Minister said at a function in Goa.
Since Tuesday, when PM Modi announced the scrapping on Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes as a strike against black money and terror funds, the response had been largely positive. But since Friday, as ATM(s) started running out of cash within hours and people waited for half-a-day at banks to exchange cash, the impatience mounted.
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Insisting that he felt the “pain” of the people, PM Modi said the steps taken “were not a display of arrogance. I have seen poverty and understand people’s problems.”
Getting emotional, he further added, “I was not born to sit on a chair of high office. Whatever I had, my family, my home…I left it for the nation…”
The ban on high denomination currency, the Prime Minister underscored today, was a move to counter black money.
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“People voted me in to fight corruption. Shouldn’t I do it?” he questioned. “”We took a key step to help the honest citizen of India defeat the menace of black money. If any money that was looted in India and has left Indian shores, it is our duty to find out about it.”
Earlier the Prime Minister had said the people should have patience with the currency ban, which can be their “contribution towards nation-building”.
WATCH Prime Minister’s whole speech here:
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