Former PM hits out at Modi govt’s policies, ex-finance minister Chidambaram presents Congress’s economic resolution for the future at plenary.
New Delhi: Just a day ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about doubling farmers’ income at the Krishi Unnati Mela in New Delhi. And on the second day of the 84th plenary of the Congress party, former PM Manmohan Singh chose to respond to the PM’s statement, calling it another ‘jumla’ and coming down heavily on the present government’s economic policies.
“For doubling farmers’ income, you need a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum, which is unthinkable in the current scenario. It is a ‘jumla’ again,” Singh, a noted economist and India’s former finance minister, said.
“When Modi ji was campaigning, he made lot of tall promises. He promised two crore jobs and we haven’t seen even two lakh jobs.”
Farmers’ issues have come to the forefront of the national discourse in the last few months, after the BJP suffered some electoral losses in the Gujarat assembly elections and bypolls in other states. With the Lok Sabha elections due next year, the Union Budget 2018-19 also focussed on the farm distress, while the BJP-led government in Maharashtra was forced into damage control last week when over 30,000 farmers marched over five days from Nashik to Mumbai, demanding their rights, better amenities, and the full delivery of a promised loan waiver.
Modi’s government has, in the past, tried to fight off the tag of ‘suit-boot ki sarkaar’ (a government favouring the elite) an allegation first brought up by current Congress president Rahul Gandhi. But on the ground, farmers themselves have had little to cheer about.
Attack on economic issues
Singh tried to bring the focus on how his UPA government had made the Indian economy grow at a high rate in its 10 years in power, and said his successor had messed up the economy.
“During the 10 years of UPA rule, for the first time in history, India grew at 7.8 per cent annually,” he said. “I am not boasting of manufacturing numbers, but the Economic Survey 2017-18 says itself all that needs to be done. The Economic Survey brings out inadequacies of the BJP government in handling the social and economic problems of the country.”
Former finance minister P. Chidambaram also took the stage to present the party’s economic resolution. In his speech to the plenary, he compared the UPA and the NDA governments on different parameters, claiming that the former had helped grow farmers’ incomes by 40 per cent.
“The real incomes of farms have declined in last four years,” he said.
Taking on Modi directly, Chidambaram asked: “Why did the PM choose a Saturday to make these claims? He should have said this on the floor of the Parliament.”
He pointed out that every year, the food subsidy bill increases by Rs 30,000 crore. “Now we should ask the PM where he would get all the money to do this,” he said.
On employment front, Chidambaram said: “In our time we created jobs. While I agree that we didn’t create enough jobs, educated people found jobs. The BJP government destroyed jobs through demonetisation and flawed GST implementation.”
Chidambaram took on the 2016 demonetisation and went on to criticise the Reserve Bank of India as well. “We all know that post demonetisation, Rs 15,44,000 crore came into the banking system. But the RBI is still counting those notes; more than a year has passed. I would suggest that the RBI get a hundi from the Tirupati temple – that person can count the notes faster than you,” he said.
He said that during the 10 years of the UPA, a record 14 crore people were came above the poverty line, but hit out at the Modi government for pushing more people to poverty.
He also responded to the PM’s allegation that the bad loans crisis that banks face was actually a UPA-generated problem. “In our time, bank NPAs (non-performing assets) were Rs 2 lakh crore. Today, it stands at Rs 10 lakh crore, which means even the performing loans have become non-performing,” he said.
Alternate model
At the end of his speech, Chidambaram highlighted the Congress’s plan to rejig the economy if it came back to power.
“We resolved the NPA problem in 2009-10. We provided a record Rs 72,000 cr loan waiver to farmers. We gave education loans,” he said. “We have done it and will do it again. We have a track record for performance. The people have started replying to the BJP in Alwar, Ajmer, Phulpur, and Gorakhpur,” he said.
He urged Congress workers to spread the message that alongside its alliance partners, the party would come back to power in 2019, and resolve the economic downturn.