Recently, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Fandanvis, claimed that Modi is working on implementing Babasaheb Ambedkar’s model by “demonetisation” and he cited Babasaheb Ambedkar’s great work “The Problem of Rupee”. The author of this short note very much doubts if Fandanvis or any BJP politician has really read this important book as no where in the book the swapping of currency is listed as the “problem of rupee”.

First of all, it is a technical economics text that deals with the issue of weakened Indian rupee due to the British policy of making trade in favour of the British and interesting Babasaheb Ambedkar goes on refuting the point of Kenyes who advocated “deficit financing” as a tool to maintain the aggregate demand, which Babasaheb Ambedkar found not very useful in the context of India then as it will lead to increased inflation if the Government only resorts to printing new notes to plug the hole caused in the budget due to overspending.

Now in this technical book on economics, Babasaheb Ambedkar had not talked about “note bandi”, so if the BJP politicians are reading that into it, they have a malicious agenda. Babasaheb’s economic understanding is related to how common man can be uplifted where they don’t feel economic suffering. He wanted to ensure the common people freedom from wants and hunger and that is the goal before the country. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s economic thinking is clear and very well formulated. Afterall, he was trained in economics and he knew what is important for the common man.

Selling the poison in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar is the murder of his movement and his legacy and the sooner the BJP/RSS stops it, it will be better for them and others. If they have to really take the legacy of movement forward, the first thing they should do is attack the caste system directly.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist

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