SUPERMAN JAITLEY MADE SUPER MESS, SAYS SINHA; BJP BURIES HEAD IN SAND
The outburst of veteran BJP leader Yashwant Sinha (84) – that the government, particularly Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has made a "mess" of the Indian economy – goes beyond internal party politics and personal squabble between the two leaders.
One of the fiercest attacks on the government, it has come not from an Opposition leader but from a former finance minister who had served in the Vajpayee government. Sinha may have his good reasons for being annoyed with the Modi government but he has nonetheless given a much needed wake-up call to the ruling regime.
But the BJP government is unfazed and prefers to remain in a state of denial; both Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Railways Minister Piyush Goel came up with a tame defence, asserting that the entire world acknowledges that India has become the world's fastest economy in three years.
Rajnath is no economist but Goyal, a chartered accountant, could also say little except pointing out that the veteran leaeder was targeting PM Modi indirectly. On the specific points that Sinha has raised, Goyal could merely say that "Yashwant Sinha missed the facts badly.’’
The only aspect that Goyal could highlight in his rejoinder was that the government is serving the poorest among the poor and providing the "cleanest government ever."
He also could not rebut Sinha’s claim that had the government not changed the methodology of calculating the GDP in 2015, its professed growth of 5.7% in the first quarter of the current fiscal would have actually been 3.7% or less.
Others in the BJP chose to dismiss Sinha's concerns as "cynicism of a marginalised and disgruntled leader" and refused to take it as an alarm bell from a knowledgeable insider.
Political observers said Prime Minister Modi is no economist and he finds himself in a spot with the clock ticking for him in the run up to the 2019 elections. It will be no surprise if he decides to use the newly constituted Economic Council's recommendations to remove Jaitley. Only, he would not like to be doing so at the behest of Sinha.
Many RSS outfits, which have been lamenting the economic slowdown post demonetisation and GST, turned around quickly to assert that this is a transitory phase, and economy will be soon back on the growth trajectory, thus rejecting Sinha's interpretations.
Economists and the business fraternity did not react though they are better placed to make an objective assessment of what Sinha has said about the economy and Jaitley's ability to grapple with the situation as the finance minister.
Incidentally, the RSS affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is planning a massive demonstration in Delhi on November 17 against the government's economic policies. WHAT SINHA SAID
Sinha in hard-hitting remarks had lashed out at "superman" Jaitley for making a "mess" of the Indian economy which is headed for a "hard landing" as sector after sector is slipping into distress. In an editorial page article in The Indian Express, Sinha said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "claims he has seen poverty from close quarters (and) his finance minister is working overtime to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters".
Sinha further said Jaitley had been luckier than his predecessors to hold the Ministry at a time when lakhs of crores of rupees were at his disposal following the depressed global crude oil prices. But he had wasted the oil bonanza which "was waiting to be used imaginatively".
‘‘The legacy problems like stalled projects and bank NPAs were no doubt there and should have been managed better... But the legacy problems have not only been allowed to persist, they have become worse." Illustrating the picture of the Indian economy today, Sinha said private investment has shrunk "as never before in two decades" while industrial production has all but collapsed.
Significantly, Sinha also said he was speaking for a large number of people in the BJP and elsewhere ‘’who are not speaking up out of fear."