Yashwant sticks to his guns as govt ‘pits’ son against him
nw delhi — A defiant Yashwant Sinha on Thursday stuck to his stand on his criticism of the government, saying he had to go public with his views on the state of economy because the doors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP were shut for him.
Sinha also felt that if his son and Union Minister Jayant Sinha was asked to write an article rebutting his views as published in a newspaper, then it was a “cheap trick” of pitting a son against the father. If Jayant was competent to answer the questions raised by him, why was he removed from the Finance Ministry, the senior Sinha asked.
Talking to TV channels a day after his stinging critique of the government’s management of the economy created a storm, the veteran BJP leader said the previous Congressled UPA regime could no longer be held responsible for the mess Indian economy was in today.
He had a word of advice to the government: If people like former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram speak on the economy, the government should listen to them.
Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha, without naming his father, claimed on Thursday in an article in the Times of India that his father had missed the fundamental structural reforms initiated by Modi that were transforming the economy.
Modi re-tweeted Jayant Sinha’s published article.
The government also rubbished Yashwant Sinha’s criticism, citing that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and UN bodies were hailing India as one of the fastest growing economies.
Stepping up his attack against the government, Yashwant Sinha, who was Finance Minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government and is still in the BJP, reiterated that the Finance Ministry failed to address the problem of reviving stalled proj-
there was a constant downfall in the economy but i did not speak. We cannot blame the previous government any more because we have been in power for 40 months.
Yashwant Sinha, Ex-finance minister
articles about indian economy were a narrow set of facts, and quite simply miss the fundamental structural reforms that are transforming the economy.
Jayant Sinha, Union minister
ects and sort out issue of non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks.
He again said that demonetisation and the GST that followed were massive disruptors of the economy, which had been growing slowly in the last six quarters.
He said the fall in growth in the latest quarter made him speak up in national interest.
“I am not frustrated. I deliberately chose this. I will speak on national issues. I cannot be kept silent on national issues.”
He said last year he went to Jammu and Kashmir as part of efforts to find a solution to the festering unrest and wanted to meet the Prime Minister. “It is 10 months since I had sought an appointment and I am yet to get it.
“There was a constant downfall in the economy but I did not speak. We cannot blame the previous government any more because we have been in power for 40 months and got full opportunity to correct things,” said Sinha, responding to claims that it inherited an economy in a bad shape from the UPA. —