On day of Yashwant Sinha's blistering attack, BJD's Baijayant Panda defends Centre
On a day that former Finance Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha ripped into Arun Jaitley and the Modi government over the state of the economy, BJD’s Baijayant Panda wrote a piece supporting the Centre over GST and demonetization.
In an opinion piece published in TOI, he defended demonetization, arguing that it had hit black money hoarders.
He wrote: “In any event, if you think demonetization did not have much impact on curbing black money, all you need to do is speak to real estate developers and private, for-profit college proprietors. While they had been facing challenges in recent years, demonetization , and subsequently GST, dealt a severe blow to their cash-based business models.”
He argued it was wrong to claim that demonetization and GST didn’t affect black money. He further wrote: “This has certainly contributed to the economic slowdown. The point is, you cannot have your cake and eat it too by simultaneously claiming that demonetization and GST hurt the economy, while also insisting black money did not get affected.”
He went on to write that GST would have a ‘positive impact in the long run’, and cited the World Bank’s country head stating that GST is ‘may propel India into 8% growth rate’.
He goes on to argue in the piece that public investment was picking up, FDI was growing steadily, and suggested alternative measures like ‘devaluing the rupee to boost exports’.
Congress attacks BJP over Yashwant Sinha article
Latching onto BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's critical remarks against the Centre over the state of the economy, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narendra Modi Government of ignoring the plight of the masses while extending favours to a select few.
In his article headlined 'I need to speak up now', the former Union finance minister, who has been sidelined in the party, wrote, "I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister (Arun Jaitley) has made of the economy".
He even claimed that people in the BJP are not raising their voices "out of fear".
Addressing a small gathering near Chotila in Surendranagar district, Gandhi cited the article to attack Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
"Today, I read an article written by Yashwant Sinha, who is a senior BJP leader. He wrote that Modiji and Jaitleyji have destroyed the Indian economy. This is not my view. This is the opinion of a BJP leader," Gandhi said on the third and last day of his campaign tour of poll-bound Gujarat, Modi's home state.
"He even wrote that though BJP leaders know that our country is in deep trouble, no one is ready to speak up as they are afraid of Modiji," the Congress vice president said.
Gandhi claimed that the country's economy is in shambles because the BJP government does not listen to the common man.
"This has happened because the BJP government never listens to farmers, youngsters, labourers, traders and women, who actually run this country. People from BJP listen only to businessmen and then tell the citizens their own 'mann ki baat'," Gandhi alleged, taking a jibe at the PM's radio programme.
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