Accusing the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government of ruining India’s reputation globally, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the Congress regime lacked ‘neeyat and niyam’, i.e., intention and adherence to the law during their 10-year tenure.
The FM was discussing the economic mismanagement of the UPA government between 2004-2014 through a White Paper tabled in the Lok Sabha.
“‘White Paper’ has been laid on the table by the government, after 10 years of pulling out an Indian Economy which was in fragile five to reach the stage of top five. It is a statement laid with responsibility…” Sitharaman said.
“Congress giving lecture these days after not being able to handle the global financial crisis,” Sitharaman.
The nearly 60-page White Paper, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha by Sitharaman on Thursday, says that the banking crisis was one of the most important and infamous legacies of the UPA government.
“The UPA leadership, which seldom fails to take credit for the 1991 reforms, abandoned them after coming to power in 2004. Even as the country was standing at the cusp of emerging as a powerful economy, little was done by the UPA government to build upon the strong foundation laid by the previous NDA government,” the paper read.
During the discussion, Sitharaman compared the handling of the 2008 global financial crisis by the UPA with NDA’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. She further accused the Congress of not putting nation first, said the economy was left in tatters because the UPA put ‘family’ first.
Sitharaman said the Modi government worked with sincerity and pulled the economy out of ‘fragile five’ and sent it to top five globally. It is now on the verge of becoming one of the top three global economies, she said.
“Ten years of one government with some crisis and 10 years of a different government with different crisis. The comparison shown in this ‘White Paper’ clearly says how if the government handles it with true sincerity, transparency and putting the nation first, the results are there for everybody to see,” Sitharaman said.
She added, “When you don’t put the nation first, when you put your first family first, and when you have other consideration than transparency, the results are out there for you to see. So what happened after 2008 when there was a global financial crisis and what happened post-COVID shows clearly that if the intent of the government is sincere results will be good.”
Sitharaman said the Modi government handled the much more “deadly” Covid crisis with sincerity and dedication, unlike UPA in 2008, which did not have “clean” intention.
(With agency inputs)
