◗ Govt’s foreign policy confused, conducted in a ‘ cavalier manner’, says Cong chief
The Congress on Sunday said the country needed to be “rescued from the hands of incompetent economic managers” and BJP’s philosophical belief in a “coercive economic regime” and “artificial principle of oneness”. The Congress’ economic resolution stated that “the abysmal economic management of the Modi government” has resulted in a lack of jobs for millions of youth, stagnant real incomes for hundreds of millions of farmers, the collapse of the manufacturing sector, and destruction of micro, small and medium businesses.
Proposing the economic resolution in the Congress plenary, former finance minister P. Chidambaram accused the government of squandering a golden opportunity by failing to capitalize on the gains made by the UPA. Attacking the recently presented Union Budget, Mr Chidambaram said, “This Budget is the handiwork of a government which is completely helpless, clueless and directionless. I am afraid twelve months from today, whoever comes into the government will face a major crisis.”
Promising the industry that there will be no tax ‘ terrorism’, no veiled threats, no ‘ midnight knocks’ on doors, he said, “We will remove fear and we will allow you to create wealth.”
He also attacked the government on the faulty implementation of the GST that has led to ‘ major chaos’. Speaking on the achievements of the Congress, Mr Chidambaram said that the party delivered on several fronts. He cited examples of loan waiver to the farmers and resolving the NPA crisis in 200809. Citing the economic survey, Chidambaram said there were challenges which were not addressed in the last four years: education, health, agriculture and employment. Taking a dig at the RBI for not being able to count the demonetised currency, Mr Chidambaram said, “Demonetisation was a big lie. RBI is still counting and won’t tell us how much money has come back.”