In a scathing attack on the Congress, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday accused the UPA government, which was in power from 2004 to 2014, of economic mismanagement and said they have a mastery on “gud ko gobar karna” (to ruin a good thing).
Reading out from the government’s ‘White Paper’ on India’s economy in Parliament, Sitharaman said, “In 2004, when Prime Minister Vajpayee’s NDA government handed it over to you with inflation below 4 per cent, what did you do with it? Ill-targeted, reckless fiscal policy, ill-targeted subsidies, wasteful expenditure, all done for political gains.”
She added that the NDA government was often targeted for inflation but the UPA government was not better off.
The Finance Minister said targeting inflation was not merely trying to contain it but implementing supply-side measures as prices would increase due to a lack of it.
She added that under the NDA government, a group of ministers monitors the price of commodities, including vegetables and pulses, every week.
The ‘White Paper’ compares the performance of the Indian economy under the previous UPA government and the current BJP-led NDA government.
It was mentioned in the document that the UPA regime inherited a healthy economy in 2004 and left it in crisis when the current government took over in 2014.
The central government said in its white paper that the UPA government failed to drive growth after inheriting a healthy economy in 2004.
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