Zero percent growth: BJP attacks UPA on economic policies

The Bharatiya Janata Party added to an already politically charged Sunday by fielding leaders Yashwant Sinha, Piyush Goyal, Dr Subramaniam Swamy and Smriti Iraani to take on the UPA on the state of the economy after ten years of the UPA government. Simultaneous press conferences in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Bangalore on Sunday afternoon saw BJP leaders lashing out at the Congress-led UPA for leaving the economy tottering.  [caption id=“attachment_1408049” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Yashwant Sinha. AFP[/caption] Yashwant Sinha, former finance minister, issued an 18-point questionnaire to outgoing finance minister P Chidambaram demanding answers on the inflation, rate of growth and the “crisis of confidence” in the economy. Sinha blasted the finance minister for mishandling the economy, saying that there was “an investment crisis” and that Chidambaram had attempted to bring down the fiscal deficit ‘artificially”, which was placing a huge burden on the government. In the Union Budget speech in February, Chidambaram had said the budget 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. 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’. Smriti Iraani, speaking in Ahmedabad simultaneously, 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 continued, “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 0 pc industrial growth.” Even as she continued, Dr Subramaniam Swamy, speaking in Bangalore, launched an attack on the UPA’s economic policies claiming that the Indian economy is now close to bankruptcy. The BJP, through its vision committee led by Nitin Gadkari and himself, have suggested a series of reforms, he added. The BJP manifesto, to be released soon, will also mention some of these policies, he said. “We want major tax reforms so that rate of savings goes up, so professionals and middle classes benefit,” Swamy said. The BJP is promising an increase in exemption limit for income taxes, he said.