Biggest strength under PM Modi is stability in policy, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the biggest strength under PM Modi is stability in policy. In an exclusive interview with Managing Director of Network18 Rahul Joshi, the FM said  “Policy stability is one thing on which the prime minister lays a lot of emphasis. He doesn’t like periodic tweaking. He would tell you it’s only two years, it’s only three years, let it play out, let it settle down and so on. So, he’s never in favour of quick twists and turns. This is not me saying, that people who observed him during his tenure as chief minister will know that the biggest strength under Prime Minister Modi is stability in policy. So that’s a singular-line reply that I can give. No surprises. I’m in long-term stability in policy.“ Sitharaman termed the Interim Budget 2024-25 “secularism” in action. “People on the ground are talking about programmes, this is secularism in action, ” she said. According to her, the power of word of mouth is “very strong”. “When a beneficiary on the ground truly gets a benefit, they believe what the government says,” said the Finance Minister. “This government is serving the common people in letter and spirit and that is recognised by the people themselves.” She also said Budget 2024 did not announce any sops as the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi treated it like a true vote on account. She further said the Budget 2024 on Thursday (1 February) was presented with clear understanding that several programmes which were launch with empowerment of citizens in mind over the last 10 years are reaching the ground and the beneficiaries are already on their own speaking about it. “I have used an expression and I mean it when I have said it that ‘this is secularism in action.’ This is where we have not shown any difference between members belonging to different communities, religions. The (beneficial) project reaches the ground for everybody who deserves to get it and if they are eligible they get it, irrespective of who they are,” the Finance Minister said in an interview to Network18. “Therefore, in every way, the principle of empowerment, the Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas has been executed in every way and that is the sense of the confidence that the blessings of people are not just at the time when we gave promises but blessings are, even now, coming in abundantly that yes you have kept your words,” Sitharaman said. Sitharaman on Thursday presented her sixth consecutive budget. In less than an hour-long budget speech, she presented the Modi government’s achievements in the last 10 years that transformed India from being a ‘fragile’ economy to the world’s fastest-growing major economy.