Forget the anniversary. Happy Diwali.

In 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an overwhelming majority with three-quarters of the total seats in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly election. The BJP won 312 seats, the Samajwadi Party (SP) got 47 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got 19, out of a total of 403 seats in the assembly. wikipedia. Yogi Adityanath took over as chief minister. Born Ajay Singh Bisht "in the village of Panchur in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, Yogi (one who practices yoga) Adityanath is the "mahant, or head priest, of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu monastery in Gorakhpur." He is also celebrated as 'bulldozer baba' for using excavating machines to demolish allegedly illegal properties. Britannica. It is thought that this thumping victory of the BJP was facilitated by the sudden demonetization of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 banknotes on 8 November 2016 (wikipedia), the same evening that Donald J Trump won his first term as President of the United States (White House). "While millions of honest citizens had to queue up outside banks and ATMs to withdraw limited amounts of hard-earned money, the wealthy found a way to deposit all their ill-gotten wealth through mules." Writing in January 2017, V Anantha Nageswaran, presently the Chief Economic Advisor to the government, "wondered whether the 'ouster' of the outspoken RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan sent a message to his successor on the perils of acting independently or providing independent advice." Mint. Prof Rajan's successor Urjit Patel resigned prematurely in December 2018, citing "personal reasons". "His resignation comes amid reports of a rift between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government." BBC. It was alleged that members of the BJP had prior intimation and so were able to change their illicit cash or use it buy parcels of land. The total amount was alleged at a colossal Rs 8 trillion. TOI. "Official sources and cheerleaders, who included some well known economists, claimed as much as between Rs 3 trillion and Rs 5 trillion - some 20% to 30% of the currency held by the public - estimated as black money holding would not return." Scroll. Since banknotes are legal tender and a liability on the RBI's balance sheet (rbi.org.in) the extinguished notes would result in the transfer of the windfall surplus of Rs 3-5 trillion to the government. In the event, "more than 99.3% of the demonetized currency eventually returned to the banking system. What remained was mostly the small and pitiful holdings of the poor." Despite an explosion of digital payments the use of cash has risen to 12.1% of GDP and the currency in circulation is at Rs 43.468 trillion as on 15 October 2026. ISI. Since the informal economy employs over 80% of the workforce (Data for India) and operates almost exclusively in cash (MPPSC Forum), the sudden demonetisation caused immense suffering to the poor. However, rejoicing in their schadenfreude, as the BJP managed to convince them of the suffering of the rich, they voted the BJP to absolute power in UP. "In Pew's 2025 survey, 74% of Indian respondents said they are satisfied with how democracy is working - the second highest share among the countries surveyed. But this is not how 'experts' consulted by organisations like V-Dem and Freedom House see it." HT. The reason for the satisfaction may be because of the distribution of freebies before elections, because 65% of the population is youth, of whom 51% are unemployable, the bottom 50% of the population holds just 15% if the wealth and 86% of farmers hold less than 1 acre of land. 180degrees. If their vote is valued in cash then democracy works. The tenth anniversary of the infamous demonetisation coincides with Diwali which is an auspicious day of celebration. So, Happy Diwali to all Indians and to the world.