‘Nation moving towards becoming banana republic’
The country is moving towards becoming a “banana republic”, the Shiv Sena alleged on Wednesday, while lashing out at its senior ally BJP over the depreciating value of the rupee and alltime high fuel prices.
In remarks laced with sarcasm, the party said the rupee was plunging to a new record low against the US dollar, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy holding the Congress responsible for ruining the nation’s economy, forgetting that he has been in power for four years now.
“The fuel prices are skyrocketing. Petrol will soon touch the Rs 100-mark. Scores of unemployed youth will come out on streets and spread anarchy. Farmers are not happy. Prices of foodstuffs, cooking gas and CNG have increased. New investments have decreased,” the Sena said.
“The country’s picture is heart-wrenching and we are moving towards being a banana republic,” it cautioned in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
If the rupee’s slide continues, it will soon cross the Rs 100-mark against the US dollar, warned the Sena, which is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
It noted that when the BJP was in the opposition, it used to say that with the rupee’s depreciating value, the country’s reputation slides as well. “Now, if the rupee nears the 100-mark against the dollar, should it be said our nation’s image is improving?” the Sena quipped.
Referring to a recent report of the World Bank, it said at a time when the Indian currency is on its “deathbed”, claiming that the country is the sixth biggest economy of the world is “laughable”.
The Niti Ayog blamed former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan for ruining the country’s economy through steps taken by him for the recovery of bad loans. But, the rupee has slid much lower than it did during Rajan’s tenure, it said.
Further taunting the BJP, it said the party is planning to remove the Jawaharlal Nehru memorial in the Teen Murti Bhavan complex, holding elections through EVMs, calling Congress chief Rahul Gandhi names in an probable bid to improve the country’s economy and halt the rupee’s slide. The domestic currency was at a lifetime low of 71.58 against the resurgent dollar on Tuesday, but strengthened by 20 paise to 71.38 against the US$ in the opening trade at the interbank foreign exchange market on Wednesday.
The rupee was plunging to a new record low against the US dollar, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy holding the Congress responsible for ruining the nation’s economy, forgetting that he has been in power for four years now