New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has said that the economy is in a mess and "raid raj" has become the order of the day. He also questioned the current methodology to calculate GDP numbers.
The former finance minister has painted a grim picture of an economy in distress. He has said that the government's statistical changes in calculating GDP have inflated the figures by over 200 basis points, or 2 percentage points, annually. "According to the old method of calculation, the growth rate of 5.7 percent is actually 3.7 percent or less," Sinha wrote in The Indian Express.
He said "raid raj" has become the order of the day and the Income Tax department is investigating cases involving millions of people. "The Enforcement Directorate and the CBI also have their plates full. Instilling fear in the minds of the people is the name of the new game."
"I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister has made of the economy," he added.
The veteran leader said his comments reflect the sentiments of a large number of people in the BJP and elsewhere who are not speaking up out of fear.
Reacting to the report, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has tweeted saying that the "wings have fallen off" the government.
Ladies & Gentlemen, this is your copilot & FM speaking. Plz fasten your seat belts & take brace position.The wings have fallen off our plane https://t.co/IsOA8FQa6u— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 27, 2017
Sinha was the finance minister in the previous NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was responsible for successful schemes like the India millennium bonds issue.
He has been a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi regime. His son Jayant Sinha was earlier a minister of state in the Finance Ministry and was later shifted to the Aviation Ministry. It is believed that his father's constant criticism of the government contributed to the transfer.
Sinha's piece was more an attack on Jaitley than a critique on the state of the economy. "Finance Ministry calls for the undivided attention of its boss in the best of times," said Sinha, implying that Jaitley's other portfolios (Corporate Affairs, Disinvestment and Defence for a time) prevents him from giving his full attention to the economy.
The veteran BJP leader warned that economies are destroyed more easily than they are built. "The PM claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters," Sinha added.
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