Yashwant Sinha Hopes The Centre Will Now Clean Up The Economy “Mess”
Yashwant Sinha remains unfazed, wants government to do course correction.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha stuck to his guns saying that he hopes the Centre would do some course correction to revive the economy, after the government's rebuttal of his criticism of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
"There is a decline in the growth rate quarter after quarter. I decided to speak up when the problems in the economy were multiplying,” Sinha told national television channels. “I hope the government even now will take steps to correct the situation which has arisen,” he said.
In an article in the Indian Express yesterday, Sinha criticised Jaitley on his handling of the Indian economy saying that it is in a “mess”. Further, he pointed out the failing health of the Indian economy, which has been affected by a “badly implemented” Goods and Service Tax.
Replying to a question about whether his "disgruntlement" led him to criticise the government, Sinha hit back, saying it was the "cheapest accusation" that could be levelled against him. He insisted he "technically" continues to be a member of the BJP as the party has also not "thrown me out".
The BJP leader, without naming the previous UPA government, said it "cannot be blamed" for the tardy implementation of central projects as the NDA has been in power for the last 40 months.
Sinha said any government of the day "should listen" when people like former prime minister Manmohan Singh or ex-Union finance minister P Chidambaram, considered experts on financial matters, speak up, and advised against dismissing their views as "political rhetoric".
His son Jayant Sinha, the civil aviation minister, made a stout defence of the government's economic policies in a separate article in the Times of India. "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," he said. The junior Sinha added that two quarters worth of data was “inadequate” to guage the impact of far reaching reforms like GST.
Responding to Jayant's criticism of his views, the 84- year-old IAS officer-turned-politician said that only the minister concerned or the government's spokesperson should have commented on them.
"But if they (the government) thought he (Jayant) was very competent to reply to the points which I have raised, then my question is why was he shifted from the ministry of finance?" he questioned.
Sinha said both he and his son were doing their "dharma" (duty). He insisted that the issue should not be seen as one between father and son.
He said the purpose behind highlighting the concerns about the economy through an article in another leading English daily was to bring certain issues in public domain so that the government does a course correction. Sinha said he did not expect his article to create "such a furore".
