THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- November 28, 2016- Topic 1
Demonetisation seems to have made friends of foes, and foes of friends in
the political firmament. If Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar differed from his allies
while heaping praise onPrime Minister Narendra Modifor embarking on
demonetisation, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was critical of his party’s
senior partner in government for “bringing tears in the eyes of the people” who
had voted it to power. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool
Congress showed a readiness to join hands with arch-rival Left Front to fight
the demonetisation drive. While the withdrawal of high-denomination notes can
hardly be expected to trigger a political realignment anywhere, political
parties seem to be rising above mundane political calculations while reacting
to the demonetisation. A cynical view might be that Mr. Kumar is keeping his
political options open by building bridges with the BJP, and keeping his
politically junior but numerically stronger ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, in
check. Arguably, he could be trying to recover his assiduously cultivated
anti-corruption image, which took a beating following his electoral pact with
Lalu Prasad of the RJD. But a simpler explanation cannot be ruled out: that Mr.
Kumar saw some merit in the demonetisation drive, even as he recognised the
difficulties in implementation. Similarly, the Sena cannot afford to break with
the BJP at this juncture. Quite likely, Mr. Thackeray was prompted not by the
possibilities of political realignment (of which there is practically none),
but by the realities on the ground, in distancing himself and his party from
the demonetisation decision. In West Bengal, an alliance between the Trinamool
and the Left Front is inconceivable, but that did not stop Ms. Banerjee from
reaching out to the CPI(M) in her fight.
If political parties have thus reacted unpredictably, it could just be on
account of the mixed results seen on the ground. None can afford to be seen as
directly opposing measures to clean up black money and weed out counterfeits.
However, stories of cashless banks and shuttered ATMs seem to have given some
life to opposition parties looking for an issue to pin the government down on.
Reports of the BJP having made huge cash deposits in banks in West Bengal, and
land deals in Bihar days before the demonetisation, have provided some
ammunition to opposition parties that were initially reluctant to criticise the
move for fear of being labelled supporters of black money hoarders and
counterfeiters. Demonetisation might not have changed political equations, but
it has shaken up the political scene. What they cannot oppose in principle,
parties have opposed in practice.
Vocabulary
Foes: an enemy or opponent.
Example: Join forces against the common foe
Synonyms: enemy, adversary, opponent, rival, antagonist, combatant
Firmament: the heavens or the sky,
especially when regarded as a tangible thing.
Example: Dante is guided by a ravishing Beatrice through the shimmering, starry
firmament to touch the face of God.
Synonyms: the sky, heaven, the heavens, the skies, the
empyrean
Heap: put in a pile or mound.
Example: She heaped logs on the fire
Synonyms: pile up, pile, stack up, stack, make a mound
of, assemble
Embark: go on board a ship,
aircraft, or other vehicle.
Example: He embarked for India in 1817
Synonyms: board ship, go on board, go aboard, hop on, jump
on
Readiness: willingness to do something.
Example: Spain had indicated a readiness to accept his terms
Synonyms: willingness, enthusiasm, eagerness, keenness, promptness
Arguably: it may be argued (used to
qualify the statement of an opinion or belief).
Example: She is arguably the greatest woman tennis player of all time
Synonyms: possibly, conceivably, feasibly, plausibly, probably
Afford: have enough money to pay
for.
Example: The best that I could afford was a first-floor room
Synonyms: pay for, bear the expense of, have the money for
Counterfeit: a fraudulent imitation of
something else; a forgery.
Example: He knew the tapes to be counterfeits
Synonyms: fake, forgery, copy, reproduction, imitation, fraud
Ammunition: a supply or quantity of
bullets and shells.
Example: Large quantities of ammunition and supplies had been stockpiled there.
Synonyms: bullets, shells, projectiles, missiles, rounds, shot, slugs, cartridges