Just as his government was hitting the halfway mark, Narendra Modi told the BJP Parliamentary Party that demonetisation was not the end but the beginning of a “long, deep and constant” battle against black money and corruption. Even as the desk-thumping members passed a unanimous resolution endorsing his “great crusade”, the prime minister reiterated that the note-ban was no sudden move. “Hum apne patte dheere-dheere kholte hain (we open our cards gradually),” he told them on November 22. This one sentence was an indication that the bold move was part of a larger plan and “bigger changes” were in the offing.