The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘Cong unable to digest pro-poor announcements’
SENIOR CABINET ministers Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcements in his New Year eve address and slammed the Congress, saying that the opposition party is “unable to digest” any step that benefits the poor.
“The announcements made by the PM will benefit gaon (village), gareeb (poor) and kisan (farmers) and all other sections of society,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said. “The PM has once again made it clear that the NDA government is dedicated to the welfare of the poor and weaker sections of society.”
Naidu said the “sins” of the Congress will be “quantified” once data on black money unearthed is made public. The I&B Minister said the Prime Minister’s announcements should not be termed as “sops”, and asserted that the poor, middle class, farmers and small traders were being given their due that was denied to them by the system so far.
“When the Prime Minister announced the much-desired relief and welfare measures for the farmers, middle class, senior citizens, poor and small businessmen and women, the Congress is not able to digest it,” he said.
In his address, the Prime Minister announced two housing schemes, tax incentives for small traders, interest rebate for farmers and monetary assistance for pregnant women. Opposition leaders had criticised the speech, with Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan slamming Modi for calling the note-ban move a shuddhi yagna and said it was actually an “uncontrolled forest fire” that has claimed several lives and hit the economy.
About the Congress comment that Modi should have waited for Parliament session before announcing these measures, Naidu said: “The nefarious design of the Congress seems to be that they could have prevented the PM from helping the needy sections of society by disrupting Parliament as they did in the winter session.”
Singh said the two new housing schemes on low interest rates will help in realising the dream of housing for all by 2022.
“The decision to give relief to farmers on interest payments and conversion of three crore Kisan Credit Cards into Rupay cards will be very helpful,” he said.
Naidu also took a dig at those claiming that Modi had given a “budget speech” and denied the Finance Minister his opportunity. “With so much experience in government, the Congress does not seem to be knowing what the broad objectives of the budget are. The budget is all about bringing out the present status of the economy and the government’s road map for the next year, including tax proposals,” he said.