A full 16 years ago, the animated television show The Simpsonspredicted that Donald Trump would become the President of the United States. Looks like, India has found its very own Simpsons in the form of a Gujarati newspaper.
A report in the Telegraph points out how Akila, a Rajkot-based newspaper, carried a story over seven months ago, that was headlined, "Chalan Maathi 500-1000 ni note naabud karnwa nirya" or, 'Decision to discontinue ₹500-1000 currency notes.'
"The government which came to power on the plank of removing corruption and black money is completing two years and as a first step towards this, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are to be removed from circulation," the story went on to say.
The dateline is important -- the story was published on 1 April just as an April Fool's joke, according to the publishers. Except that this joke became very real on Wednesday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that in an effort to curb black money, the government was scrapping all ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes.
"It is just a coincidence that the Modi government took such a decision. It's a sheer coincidence," Akila editor, Kirit Gantara, told The Telegraph.
Well, if only readers had been fooled by this story and not dismissed it as a joke, they wouldn't be standing in queues today to convert their notes.
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