NEW DELHI: For a section of traders and businessmen, ‘national interest’ comes foremost even ahead of the contentious sealing drive in Delhi. The Opposition had repeatedly claimed that demonetisation, sealing drive and GST would cost the BJP the vote of the business community. But, there are many traders and shop owners who feel that there are many other pressing issues.
Praising the government’s decision to ban old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Pushpender Gupta, 60, a grocery store owner in Rameshwar Nagar, said demonetisation helped curb circulation of fake currency. GST has streamlined tax payment system, paving way for development, he added.
“One of the biggest benefits of demonetisation is that stone-pelting in Kashmir has stopped. You don’t hear about fake notes any more. GST has broken the back of black marketeers. Tax collection has increased, which is being used for development. That is why the Opposition is silent.”
“If Modi is the leader, a lot of problems will be sorted out. We want acche din. We want our national security to be intact,” said Bharti Jain, a numerologist, whose husband is a businessperson.
Harish Kumar Gupta, a grocery store owner in Gole Market, feels ‘national interest’ is more important than securing his ‘personal interest’. “What could not be achieved in 70 years, the government has achieved in five years. The sealing drives are not the BJP’s fault… If people are in the wrong, it’s their problem.”
Over the past one and a half years, civic authorities have cracked down on houses, shops and illegal factories. Rajesh Jain, a shop owner in East Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar area, said, the governments took decisions unilaterally without involving the stakeholders.
“Sealing has done us a great damage.”
Jain added party leaders are saying things completely contrary— first that it was up to the Supreme Court, but later blame other parties when they visited their houses. “If a trader is affected, it has direct impact on the economy,” he asserted.