{ RAHUL GANDHI } CONG LEADER
[Govt is] selling everything we (UPA) helped create
On the Centre’s move to monetise its assets
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday dubbed the central government’s ambitious monetisation of public assets scheme as an attempt “to create monopolies” in critical areas that would cut down more job opportunities and adversely affect “small and medium business”.
“We are not against privatisation. Our (UPA government’s) privatisation had a logic, and there was no privatisation of strategic industry such as the railways. All this privatisation is for creating monopolies. You know who owns ports and getting airports,” he said, alleging the Prime Minister is “selling the crown jewels of India”.
Gandhi, who has often criticised the government over helping a chosen few industrialists, added: “It took 70 years to build this massive infrastructure. People’s money was involved but now these are being sold to 3-4 people. As soon as these become monopolies, employment opportunities would be shrunk. Small business, medium business will not exist.”
On Monday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave details of a National Monetisation Pipeline to lease infrastructure assets
of central government ministries and state-run companies to create ₹6 lakh crore fund to build new infrastructure.
Among projects the government plans to lease are 26,700km of roads, 90 passenger trains, 400 railway stations, 28,608 circuit km transmission lines, 286,000km of Bharatnet fibre network and 14,917 towers owned by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd.
Gandhi underlined how the United Progressive Alliance government’s privatisation policy only dealt with chronically ill companies or those with minimal market shares. “We didn’t allow creation of monopolies. But all this privatisation is for creating monopolies. You know who owns ports and getting airports,” said Gandhi.
He compared the government’s move with British Raj’s East India Company and said, “(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi believes large monopolies can save this country. You will see a dramatic increase in anger and violence. Modi is an instrument for doing some particular job for these people.”
While Sitharaman categorically ruled out any sale of land, her predecessor and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram termed the exercise as “a grand bargain sale” and quipped, “virtually, no public sector will exist after this.”
The former finance minister said there were no criteria and goals for the monetization scheme. “We are going to raise ₹1.54 lakh crore every year—can this be a sole goal to sell assets? You don’t embark upon the exercise without consulting stakeholders. This is all hatched in secrecy in this wonderful organization called Niti Ayog,” Chidambaram said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress of “political hypocrisy” for questioning the government’s move and called the opposition party a “non-performing asset”.
“…while on one hand, the Modi government and the BJP are engaged in construction of the country, the Congress is involved in destruction of the country”, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.