August 21, 2012
New Delhi — The Congress-led government has grossly mismanaged the economy and is caught in a policy paralysis, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Sunday.
A day after BJP chief ministers' meeting ended here, party leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha also accused the central government of discriminating against BJP-ruled states.
"The last eight years under UPA (United Progressive Alliance) have seen complete mismanagement of the Indian economy," he told the media here.
August 21, 2012
New Delhi — The Congress-led government has grossly mismanaged the economy and is caught in a policy paralysis, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Sunday.
A day after BJP chief ministers' meeting ended here, party leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha also accused the central government of discriminating against BJP-ruled states.
"The last eight years under UPA (United Progressive Alliance) have seen complete mismanagement of the Indian economy," he told the media here.
"As a result, the Indian economy, which in 2004 had attained the potential of breaking out into a structurally higher growth trajectory, is now losing the opportunity of pulling millions of Indians out of poverty and misery.
"The last eight years have witnessed no progress to make the Indian economy more efficient, flexible and resilient to global developments.
"In every sector, there has been drift, policy paralysis and outright mismanagement," Sinha said.
The BJP leader added that the situation would have been far worse but for "the spectacular agricultural growth that some BJP-governed states have achieved.
"Both Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have achieved over 10 percent agriculture growth," he said.
"(Although) the BJP-ruled states were performing well, instead of helping us, the central government is creating obstacles," he alleged.
"Their inclusive growth," he said, referring to the Congress-led coalition, "means inclusive corruption, crony capitalism and increasing centralization."
Sinha, who was India's finance minister from 1998 to 2002, said the economic potential India gained was being lost due to the policy paralysis of the Manmohan Singh government.
Sinha defended the BJP's much-criticised slogan of "India Shining" for the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, which the party lost.
"Slogans may be misinterpreted but our shining India did not mean only Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata were shining, it meant the villages of India were shining."
Sinha refuted allegations that BJP-ruled states were to blame for the loss caused to the exchequer due to allocation of coal blocks.
He said the minister who signed and approved the allocation was alone to be blamed.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held the coal ministry when the alleged scam occurred, costing the exchequer nearly $37 billion as per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Courtesy: IANS
