As Ramkhilawan ploughs his field on a wintry morning, his wife shouts out to him that she’s going to the bank. Her neighbours have said there’s money in the bank today. Ramkhilawan smiles wryly.
This would be her fifth trip to the bank in as many days. The farmer couple has gotten by so far on credit from shopkeepers and seed and fertilizer traders. Other farmers in Banda have done similarly.
It’s been hard, but Ramkhilawan is not worried. Local BJP workers have been telling him to hold on till the first week of January.
They say the Prime Minister will make a major announcement for farmers, either a waiver of loans or a gift of cash, say about Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000, deposited in each villager’s bank account. “I’m hopeful Narendra Modi won’t disappoint us,’’ says Ramkhilawan.
In the popular imagination, the big announcement will be made when Narendra Modi addresses a mega rally in Lucknow on January 2. It is this hope that is helping thousands of farmers in Bundelkhand carry on with their work despite all the difficulties brought upon them by demonetisation.
The note ban has made the upcoming election in UP unique. As I drove through Bundelkhand, the usual-suspect issues were very evident: poverty, water shortage and labour migration, the normal fodder of all political animals at election time. But the joker in the pack is demonetisation. Which way will it swing the vote?