Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday lambasted the previous Congress-led UPA government for its mismanagement of the economy saying the party put “family first” and left the country in “dire straits” in 2014, but it is now lecturing the Modi government on handling the economy.
Initiating the debate on the ‘White Paper on Indian economy and its impact on the lives of people of India’ in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said the Modi government put “nation-first”, and took the economy from ‘fragile five’ to ‘top five’. India is now on the way to become the third largest global economy, she said.
Amid constant bickering by the Congress members, Sitharaman said the White Paper is for record of posterity and the youth should know what efforts Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put in to restore India’s past glory. “Ten years of one government with some crisis and 10 years of a different government with a different crisis. The comparison shown in this ‘White Paper’ clearly says how if the government handles it with true sincerity, transparency and putting the nation first, the results are there for everybody to see,” Sitharaman said.
She also said, “When you don’t put the nation first, when you put your first family first, and when you have other consideration than transparency, the results are out there for you to see. So what happened after 2008 when there was a global financial crisis and what happened post-Covid shows clearly that if the intent of the government is sincere, results will be good.”
READ | Farmers’ protest: Police lift traffic diversions from Noida to Greater Noida Expressway; check details
Further, the minister said UPA government in 2008 did not have a “clean” intention in dealing with the crisis. “During the global financial crisis, Congress did nothing to protect the interest of nation and scandals after scandals continued to take place. They left the nation in dire straits in 2014. God knows what would have happened had they continued…They were unable to save the Indian economy. Those who could not handle the global financial crisis are now lecturing us how to deal with a crisis… ,” she said.
She also said that India witnessed the Commonwealth Games scam during UPA rule which brought “bad name” to the country, whereas G20 hosted by the Modi government was appreciated and lauded across the world.
With respect to the banking sector, Sitharaman said the practice of phone banking during UPA time led to an increase in bad loans. The Modi government took a host of decisions and now the Non Performing Assets (NPAs) of public sector banks have declined to 3.2 per cent and their profitability has soared to Rs 1.08 lakh crore. Opposition members Saugata Roy (TMC) and N K Premchandran (RSP) objected to the discussion on the White Paper asserting that it was an attempt to defame the previous UPA government.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)
Link to article –
