Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday spoke in Rajya Sabha about how inflation was below 4 per cent in the last year of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Nirmala Sitharaman also took a jibe at the Congress saying the grand old party has mastered the “gud ko gobar karna [ruining the accomplishments]”. as they did while managing inflation during the 10-year UPA regime.
Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Repeatedly there are figures thrown at us – inflation is this, inflation is that. I just want to highlight, inflation in the last year of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government was below 4 per cent…They have mastery over ‘Gud ko gobar karna’.”
“In 2004, when PM Vajpayee’s NDA government handed it over to you with inflation below 4%, what did you do with it? Ill-targeted reckless fiscal policy, ill-targeted subsidies, wasteful expenditure, all done for political gains,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Nirmala Sitharaman also accused the Congress-led UPA government of “forgetting” the Northeast. “In Rajya Sabha, FM Nirmala Sitharaman says, “Second Railway Station in the northeast. In all our independent India’s history, a second railway station in the northeast when PM Modi comes in. After the first one, you forgot the northeast. At least you remember that Dr Manmohan Singh himself was from Assam, you should have worked there a little,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Giving reasons for coming out with the ‘White Paper’ now, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Nirmala Sitharaman said a similar exercise earlier would have impacted the confidence of institutions, investors, as well as the people.
Nirmala Sitharaman says, “Today, when we are bringing the White Paper, it is because we have brought the economy to a certain level and that level gives us the confidence that we are able to now say that within the next few years, and that is why the PM keeps saying, “In my third term surely the economy will reach third rank.” This is not without reason.”
Nirmala Sitharaman also highlighted that unemployment rate for graduates has declined from 17.3 per cent in 2017 to 13.4 per cent in 2023.
(With agency inputs)
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Published: 10 Feb 2024, 05:13 PM IST