UPA put family first during 2008 global financial crisis: Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman. File pic/PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday tore into UPA accusing it of economic mismanagement during the 2008 global financial crisis, saying the Congress put the "first family first" and brought the economy down to ‘fragile five.'

Initiating the debate on the ‘White Paper on Indian Economy and its impact on the lives of people of India,' Sitharaman said the Common Wealth Games (CWG), held during the UPA regime, brought "bad name" to the country, but India's G20 presidency under the Narendra Modi government earned India global respect.

Substitute motions were moved by opposition members Saugata Roy (TMC) and NK Premchandran disapproving the White Paper. 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.

Congress terms it a ‘white lie paper'

The Congress alleged that the Modi government's white paper on the economy was a "white lie paper", and asserted that it should have come out with such a document on issues such as unemployment, demonetisation, border tensions and Manipur. The government has come out with a white paper criticising the Congress-led UPA rule, saying it had turned the Indian economy into a non-performing one through indiscriminate revenue expenditure, off budget borrowings and pile of bad debts at banks. Jairam Ramesh said, "This is not a white paper but a white lie paper. We released a black paper ‘10 saal anyay kaal'. The answer to this white paper is in that black paper. The black paper was a surgical strike on the white paper."

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