NEW DELHI: Finance minister Niramala Sitharaman, replying to the opposition on the Union Budget on Tuesday, took a veiled dig at senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, saying the “Harvard and Oxford educated” leaders failed to contain the inflation as they adopted “reckless policies”.
Sitharaman said the nation witnessed double-digit inflation during the UPA era as the Congress government failed to manage the economy following the 2008 global financial crisis, which was much less complex compared to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hitting out at Chidambaram, who served as finance minister during the UPA rule, Sithraman said, “We saw double-digit high-level inflation during the UPA era because of reckless policies.”
The finance minister went on to differentiate the current inflation rate from the rate that prevailed during the UPA era saying, “Domestic inflation used to be higher than the global average during UPA’s time”.
“Between January 2010 and 2012…of the total 28 months, 22 months the inflation was above 9 per cent,” Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Further, she quipped: “Almost double-digit…their inflation record is a ‘record’– impossible to defeat”.
“The UPA govt took stimulus measures to boost the ecnonomy but I am sorry to say…Harvard & Oxford educated leaders did not know when and how to withdraw the stimulus leading to high double-digit inflation between 2009 and 13, high fiscal deficiet & debt — crowding out private investment,” Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha.
In a piercing attack at Chidambaram, the finance minister said the ex-RBI governor faced pressure from UPA government to “present a rosier picture” of growth to “shore up” sentiments.
“The finance ministry used to pressurise the RBI to soften interest rates and present a rosier picture of growth to shore up sentiments,” Sithraman said while quoting from ex-RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao’s book.
She said the economic state was so bad that they (UPA govt) had to call up the RBI to manage properly as sentiment could be affected.
The UPA regime interfered with the affairs of the RBI, used various methods to exert pressure and even struck back when the central bank tried to assert itself, former governor D Subbarao revealed in his book.
