Recently, we have seen how Twitter challenged the sovereignty of India by refusing to abide by the lawful notices issued by the Government on removal of content which were false, some of them posted under fake accounts and attempting to promote violence and rioting in India. WhatsApp also has been resisting the directions from the Government to assist them in law enforcement issues when the platform is used for promoting communal disharmony and riots.
The Government after hesitating to take a firm action for several years, finally came down with a firm hand with the Intermediary and Social Media Guidelines issued on February 25th which addresses both the Twitter arrogance and WhatsApp reluctance.
However, true to the nature of Indian democracy, the Supreme Court has now stepped in to take over the executive functions of the Government and determine whether the Gazette notifications should be first approved by the Court.
Now that Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad joining hands with Mr Prakash Javdekar together exhibited some courage which was missing with the Government for a long time, Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman on her own is still in the zone of hesitancy when it comes to the decision on Crypto Currencies. Mrs Sitharaman is presently concerned with the passage of her bill and perhaps has no energy to open another front of conflict on Bit Coins particularly when many in the bureacracy and political circles are themselves wedded to Bitcoins as the “Currency of the Corrupt”.
One of the first disappointments for the undersigned was when Mr Rajeev Chandrashekar met the Crypto lobby in Bangalore and gave a moral support. Now Mr Nandan Nilekeni
the Executive Chairman of Infosys has been roped in by the Bitcoin lobby to oppose the move of the Government to introduce a bill to ban Crypto Currencies.
Mr Nandan was once a blue eyed boy of Sonia Congress and even stood for election in Congress ticket in the constituency presently represented by Mr Tejasvi Surya. But his pet tech project namely the Aadhaar was actually given life by the Narendra Modi Government and not the UPA Government which he supported.
After Mr Nandan went back to the corporate world he had consciously avoided controversies. However, by entering a debate on Crypto Currencies which the Government and the RBI has an inclination to ban, he seems to have strayed back into the domain of controversy.
I hereby call upon him to clarify the context in which he made the statement
“We need to look at how it will help Indians, how MSMEs can access capital using Bitcoins. “
He was in a conversation with Balaji Srinivasan an investor who appears to have expressed a view
“India should champion decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to safeguard national security, prevent de-platforming and hasten India’s development as a global power”
According to the report in Money Control which is part of the larger PR exercise with articles expressing similar sentiments in Economic Times, Business Standard etc., there are 75 lakh investors from India and 10000 to 15000 crore worth Crypto currencies in the hands of Indians.
We would like to read this as 75 lakh tax evaders with Rs 10000 to 15000 crores of digital black money in their hands which needs to be brought into the main stream economy.
The Crypto exchange leaders are keeping up a bold face and are even stating that the rumour of banning is actually increasing the investments in crypto currencies. If we believe this statement, there is a scramble for moving the Indian official currency holdings to foreign destinations.
Mr Nandan and others are trying to take cover of their support to “Digital Money Laundering” by holding out the “Block Chain” technology as a great innovation. Even if we accept that Block Chain is a good technology, it does not mean that it should be encouraged to host digital black money.
I would like Mr Nandan and Mr Balaji to clarify with all their economic wisdom, how they consider that shifting Currency holdings of Indian Citizens to a decentralized form of currency namely “Bitcoin” would not starve the economy of legit currency holdings and not create a chaotic level of disruption that will destroy the country.
In order to preserve their vested business interests, Mr Nandan and Balaji should not take a view that is inimical to the national sovereignty over currency. We are today not under a “Nityananda regime in Kailash” and if the world order should remain in tact, such support to Bitcoins by industry giants need to be condemned.
We are aware that Mrs Nirmal Sitharaman is too soft to call a spade a spade and would like to beat around the bush to be apologetic. But truth has to be called out.
Bitcon is evil. All connected crypto currencies to which Bitcoin is convertible are by association also evil. They are a challenge to the Indian sovereignty.
We must therefore be bold enough to say no to Bitcoin everytime…
Naavi
