FM’S dramabaazi jibe at Cong irks Oppn
“More avenues for loot to his cronies, foreign and domestic firms is Modi and his govt’s best Covid cure! What has whittling down PSUS, even in “notified strategic areas”, got to do with Covid crisis?”
SITARAM YECHURY
CPI(M) chief
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday described Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s meeting migrant workers as dramabaazi (charade).
Gandhi had interacted with some migrant workers returning home at Delhi's Sukhdev Vihar on Saturday. While the Congress termed the FM’S comments “frivolous”, it arranged buses for migrants headed for Uttar Pradesh, and complained the UP government did not allow these to cross its borders. The Congress also opposed the government’s plan to privatise public sector enterprises.
Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said the so-called economic package was only worth ~3.22 trillion, and a mere 1.6 per cent of the GDP, and not 10 per cent as the prime minister had claimed. The Congress, however, welcomed the additional budgetary allocation of ~40,000
crore for MNREGS.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh termed the FM’S comments on Rahul Gandhi as frivolous and unbecoming. Instead of ridiculing Gandhi, the FM should have intervened with the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh to allow entry to the buses arranged by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to transport migrants, Singh said.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted, thanking the FM for “acknowledging” that the additional expenditure
can be met only by additional borrowing. “We are not agreed on the amount of additional expenditure involved in your PM Garib Kalyan Yojana and five-tranche package. When you do the additional borrowing we will know the answer,” he said.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said with Sunday’s announcements, the “bogus claims” of the government stand exposed. He said thus far of the ~20 trillion, “loan + liquidity” is equal to ~16.6 trillion, and subsidy and cash is worth ~3.2 trillion, and the latter amount includes old announcements and programmes. “After five days of press meets by the FM, it is clear that India has become a member of NATO: No Action Talk Only.”
“The public sector built India. It made India strong and selfreliant. Now in the name of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Modi-style, the public sector is being taken to the shamshaan ghat. Many of the announcements made by the Finance Minister in the past five days require Parliamentary approval and scrutiny. It is imperative that Parliament is convened at the earliest,” Ramesh said.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury said on PSES, “More avenues for loot to his cronies, foreign and domestic corporates is Modi and his government’s best Covid cure! What has whittling down the public sector, even in “notified strategic areas”, got to do with the Covid crisis? How misleading.”
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the trade union arm of the RSS, welcomed the FM’S announcements on increasing budgetary allocation for MNREGS work by ~40,000 crore. On privatisation of public sector enterprises, the BMS said “social dialogue is required before introduction of the new policy”.
Migrants returning homes clashed with the police in Gujarat, and also at several places on the borders of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. They demanding immediate travel arrangements hurled stones at the police, damaged vehicles near Rajkot.