Teetotaler Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi almost fueled a booze binge on New Year’s Eve in the nation’s cities.
As his scheduled speech drew nearer, pubs announced Modi-themed drinking games while Indians sought solace through social media humor.
The last time Modi had addressed the nation, on Nov. 8, it had ended with him canceling 86 percent of currency in circulation and unleashing chaos in a country where almost all consumer payments are made in cash.
CHEAP PINTS
Modi had likened the move to a bitter medicine to help cure tax evasion and graft. Many saw it differently.
“Come get a drink on us,” pub chain Social, which has 15 outlets across the nation, announced on Facebook. “If we’re going down, we’re going down together.”
Social offered a pint of beer or an alcoholic shot for 31 rupees (US$0.5) each time Modi said mitron, which means “friends” in Hindi. That compares with 85 rupees for a pint of Kingfisher beer it normally charges customers.
Mobile wallet company Mobikwik — backed by Sequoia Capital — promised lucky users a 100 percent cash back.
Mitron entered the Urban Dictionary soon after Modi’s fateful Nov. 8 address, when he peppered his speech with the word while announcing the ban on high-value currency notes.
It now describes “a large group of unsuspecting people, about to be hit by something they will take a long time to recover from.”
When 7:30pm arrived on the last day of 2016, Indians huddled around their television sets.
About 80 percent of Indians aged 15 to 29 evince at least some interest in politics, the 10th highest of about 40 countries surveyed in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Society at a Glance 2016 report.
However, the nation was among the world’s five lowest alcohol consumers as drinking is seen as a taboo that must be limited to social events.
“Probably the first time when, on Dec. 31, people will be partying less and praying more,” MrTippler tweeted.
“Mitron, go home, you are drunk,” he added.
WHATSAPP RUMORS
WhatsApp had begun buzzing earlier with cartoons depicting trepidatious citizens.
The medium has been a source of much ridicule over the past 50 days, with messages ranging from rumors about location sensors embedded in new currency notes to Modi’s party’s plan to hand out sweets to citizens to thank them for their cooperation.
The withdrawal of banknotes was quickly lampooned by citizens enraged about having to queue at cash machines for hours to withdraw their own money, complicated by almost daily regulatory flip flops.
Meanwhile, economists have slashed their growth estimates for India as consumption sputters. The political opposition is looking to use the fallout of Modi’s move to gain an advantage before key state elections this year.
FIGHTING GRAFT
In his 45-minute speech, Modi offered easier and cheaper loans to farmers and small businessmen as well as 6,000 rupees cash for pregnant women.
He defended the cash clampdown and vowed to crack down on corruption.
He did not elaborate on measures to fight graft and belied speculation that he had provide details on how much unaccounted cash was exposed by his move.
Authorities have also retained strict caps on cash withdrawals and Modi did not offer a new date for when the cash crunch would ease.
Moreover, how many times did he say mitron, which would have allowed citizens to drown their sorrows more cheaply? Zero.
“So much for cheap beer,” tweeted Kushan Dutta, whose profile shows he lives in Modi’s prohibitionist home-state of Gujarat. “The one sop we deserved.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in