Yashwant Sinha sends open letter to FM, says there is 'investment crisis' in India

Former finance minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has issued an 18-point questionnaire to Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the sagging state of the economy.

According to television channel Times Now, Sinha blasted the UPA and the finance minister for mismanaging the economy, saying there was “an investment crisis” and “a crisis of confidence in the economy”.

Speaking at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, he claimed that the UPA government had left the economy in shambles. He also said the finance minister had attempted to bring down the fiscal deficit ‘artificially", which was placing a huge burden on the government.

Sinha, himself a former Finance Minister, claimed that the high economic growth rate witnessed in the first four years of UPA-I (2004-2007) was largely on account of measures initiated by the NDA government and not because of any steps taken by UPA governments.

In the Union Budget speech in February,Chidambaram had said thebudget deficit would decline to 4.6 percent in the current fiscal year, which ends on Monday.That is lower than the previous estimate of 4.8 percent of GDP

Taking a dig at Chidamabram, who had announced he would not be contesting this elections, Sinha asked: “Is it a fact that the markets have celebrated your announcement of not standing for the elections; that on March 19, 2014 when you made this announcement the BSE Sensex shot up by 125 points, that the forex market was also delighted and the rupee has strengthened considerably against the dollar since then.”

“The fact of the matter is Sri Chidambaram… will be remembered by history as a spoiler, as someone who specialises in sub 5 percent growth rate, for your hubris and for your baseless tall claims which you do not tire making even today. Your words and statements have lost all credibility,” Sihna said.

Sinha also said he believes Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan would “toe Chidambaram’s line on the economy, inflation and interest rates”. Chidambaram has been in favour of lower interest rates to stoke economic growth, but so far, because of stubborn inflation, RBI governors D Subbarao (ex) and Rajan have refused to oblige.

The questionnaire is the latest attack by the BJP on Chidambaram and the UPA’s handling of the economy. In February, Sinha had claimed that whenever Chidambaram had taken over the reins of the Finance Ministry, “there has been a dip in the country’s growth rate”, as this Firstpost article notes . Back then, he also dubbed Chidambaram a “4.8 percent growth minister’.

On the issue of employment and job creation, quoting a survey by NSSO (National Sample Survey Organisation), Sinha said that over 6 crore job opportunities were created between 1999-2000-2004-05 (NDA government) as opposed to 1.5 crore between 2004-05 to 2011-12 (UPA governments).

Sinha wasn’t the only BJP leader to make news on Sunday: The party, in fact, launched a multi-pronged attack on the UPA for its economic policies, holding simultaneous press conferences across various cities in the country.

Smriti Iraani, speaking in Ahmedabad, said, “The BJP left behind a treasury that would strengthen India on the way to growth, a growth rate of 8.6 percent which would enrich the nation so that we who aspire to be a developed nation can fulfill our aspirations.

Today, as the Congress-led UPA leaves office, it leaves behind a legacy of an economy which has been mismanaged. Growth has slid from 8.6 percent to 4 percent.”

She added: “The BJP-led NDA left behind an economy filled with possibilities. In 2003-04, under the NDA, manufacturing growth in India was 7.3 per cent, UPA leaves behind 0 percent growth in manufacturing.

In the history of independent India, this is the first time that manufacturing growth is negative. When the NDA was in power, industrial growth was 6 percent. The UPA has brought that down to zero percent industrial growth.”

Dr Subramaniam Swamy and Piyush Goyal also held press conferences in Bangalore and Mumbai, respectively.( For more on that story, please click here. )

Click here to read Sinha’s 18 questions to Chidambaram.

With inputs from PTI