The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies on Wednesday, after it was attacked by party veteran and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha.
In an opinion piece published in The India Express, Sinha criticised the economic policies of the Modi government saying that the Indian economy now is in a downward spiral, and that its revival is unlikely by the 2019 elections.
Sinha, in the article, said that he felt that it was his national duty to speak up now," against "the mess the Finance Minister has made of the economy." He said that despite low oil prices globally, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has failed to use the advantage at his disposal to revive the economy.
"Jaitley was, to begin with, a lucky finance minister, luckier than any in the post-liberalisation era. Depressed global crude oil prices placed at his disposal lakhs of crores of rupees. This unprecedented bonanza was waiting to be used imaginatively. But the oil bonanza has been wasted and the legacy problems have not only been allowed to persist, they have become worse," Sinha wrote in his column.
Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal's reponse
Although the BJP declined to counter Sinha's view, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal appeared to refute Sihna's claims and said India has become the world's fastest-growing economy under the Modi government in the last three years.
"The whole country and the world has seen that under the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India has become the world's fastest-growing economy for three consecutive years in a row. For the first time in the Indian history, India is driving world growth at all levels," Goyal was quoted by ANI as saying.
Reports state that the party leadership had decided that Goyal would issue a statement defending the ruling government's economy policy.
"If you see, some of the landmark reforms that this government has brought in are unprecedented — something like GST, which was never imagined possible in a country of the size and scale of India. In fact, we are the largest country in the world to have implemented GST," he said.
"The kind of structural changes we have brought in different aspects of economy, different aspects of government's working, breaking the silos within different departments and working as one strong entity with the steadfast purpose of serving the poorest of poor. The poorest of the poor is in the focus of every action of this government," Goyal added.
Sweeping conclusions from narrow facts: Jayant Sinha
Sinha's son and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha also hit out at his father's opinion piece, saying some "sweeping conclusions" were drawn from a "narrow set of facts", missing the "structural reforms" transforming the economy.
Jayant Sinha, in a blog for The Times of India titled New Economy for New India said: "...One or two quarters of GDP growth and other macro data are quite inadequate to evaluate the long-term impact of the structural reforms underway."
He added: "Several articles have been written recently on the challenges facing the Indian economy. Unfortunately, these articles draw sweeping conclusions from a narrow set of facts, and quite simply miss the fundamental structural reforms that are transforming the economy."
When the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was asked about Sinha's comments, he replied: "The whole world admits that India is the fastest-growing economy in the world. No one should forget this fact. In the matter of economy, in the international arena, India's credibility has been established."
