Economy inherited by Modi-led government was like a 'cloth on thorny bushes': Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi: Attacking at the Opposition on several issues that created a stumbling block in the path of India's growing economy, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that a White Paper on the economy earlier would have affected the confidence of institutions, investors, and the people as well. She further said the economy that the Modi-led government inherited was like a 'cloth on thorny bushes', which is reflected in the White Paper.
"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. As an elected government, it is imperative to inform the public and Parliament about the true picture of the economy during the UPA regime and efforts taken by the Modi government to revive the economy," Ms Sitharaman said, while replying a short duration debate on 'White Paper on Indian economy' in the Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, several Opposition parties on walked out of the Rajya Sabha, opposing the BJP government's white paper on the economy. Members of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) were among those who walked out over the white paper brought by the government in Parliament to compare the state of the economy during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regimes.
CPI(M) member John Brittas said that protesting against the discrimination shown to Kerala, we are walking out. "This is an election paper. Selective amnesia and cherry picking. Finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) has said 2004-2009 was a good period but she gave the credit to the previous (NDA) government. Strange enough," the leader of the Left party said.
Launching yet another scathing attack on the Opposition, especially Congress, the she also said that 'gur ko gobar karna inki mastery hai" (Congress has mastery of ruining something that has been accomplished). "We have operated in the past 10 years on a two track approach -- one to remove all the malpractices and archaic laws and the other to look forward at a futuristic approach to take the economy further," Ms Sitharaman said.
Defending her government's good performances in its tenure, the finance minister also said the Modi-led government toiled for 10 years to bring the economy back on track, taking India from 'Fragile Five' to 5th largest economy of the world. "India is soon going to become the world's third largest economy. The inflation rate was below 4 per cent in the last year of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, but it remained significantly high during the 10-year UPA regime," she said.
Besides, Ms Sitharaman also pointed out that the current government approved 348 projects pending under the UPA government worth over Rs. 17 lakh crore. "Besides, there were 80 Jan Aushadi centres in 2014 despite the scheme being started by the UPA government in 2008 and there are more than 10,000 centres in December 2023 in the country," the finance minister said.
On a query to the job fronts in the country, the finance minister also bluntly replied that ‘Overall unemployment is declining’ not only for graduates but for all. "The rate of unemployment for graduates has declined from 17.2 per cent in 2017-18 to 13.2 per cent in 2022-23 and overall, the unemployment rate has declined from 5.8 per cent to 3.2 per cent in 2022-23," she said
Talking on the enforcement directorate or ED raids on Opposition, she claimed that agencies were not allowed to investigate money laundering cases to allow black money flow to politicians. "No black money was restituted to banks in the UPA era, while 1200 PMLA cases have been registered and Rs 16, 333 crores have come back to banks," she said. Naming Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, who took loans during UPA era, she also added that extradition orders have been passed during Modi era.
Besides, she also categorically slammed the Congress for ignoring the northeast part of India. "In independent India's history, a second railway station in the northeast came in when the PM Modi-led government came to power in the Centre. After the first one, you forgot about the northeast. At least you remember that Dr Manmohan Singh himself was from Assam; you should have worked there a little," she said.
