Continuing his tirade against the Congress, the Finance Minister said that former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was "confronted with an economic crisis," adding that many in the Congress party lacked the conviction to support reforms
Arun Jaitley
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday hailed the Narendra Modi government which "systematically and consistently" introduced 14 "iconic reforms", thereby giving the economy a "much-needed" boost in less than five years.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a detailed blog post, Jaitley said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments between 2004-2014 got stuck in slogans rather than economic expansion. "The first NDA government took key decisions with regard to infrastructure creation and prudent fiscal management. Bold policies on telecom and National Highways made significant impacts on the economy."
"However, the UPA governments between 2004-2014, got stuck into slogans rather than economic expansion. They created 'Rights' without a major increase in resources being provided to implement those rights. Subsequently, the government got marred in corruption and wasted its tenure in a cover-up exercise" he added.
Continuing his tirade against the Congress, the Finance Minister said that former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was "confronted with an economic crisis," adding that many in the Congress party lacked the conviction to support reforms.
"After the initial two years from 1991-1993, the Congress Party became apologetic about the reforms. That is probably the reason why the efforts to erase the memory of P.V. Narasimha Rao from Congress Party's contemporary history is still 'work in progress'."
Prime Minister Modi's government, Jaitley said, was elected when India was already a part of the 'Fragile Five' and the world was predicting that India's 'I' will be knocked off from the 'BRICS'.
"The government had no options and it was committed to reforms. Reform or Perish that was the challenge before the Indian economy," Jaitley said. "Therefore, the government systematically and consistently introduced several reforms spread over a five year period which will go down in India's economic history as the 'Second Generation' of reforms that were much needed," he added.
Hailing the fourteen steps taken by the Modi government as "game-changing" decisions to strengthen the economy, Jaitley said: "The economy expanded at a rate faster than any other country in the world. Our revenues went up and we ensured that the benefit of prosperity and the first right to the exchequer going to the poor is maintained."
"It will be our endeavour to maintain this direction in future also," said Jaitley, who is also heading the publicity committee of the BJP for the upcoming general elections.
The Lok Sabha elections have been scheduled to start from April 11 and will go on till May 19 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
