Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, on Saturday, blamed the previous Congress-led UPA government’s pre-poll ‘populist schemes’ and ‘soft-decisions’ for posing as challenges in the execution of new projects. Mr. Jaitley stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party government had ‘inherited’ the burden of certain populist measures and schemes brought in by the Congress.
Referring to Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari’s plans of expanding highway project works across the country and the government’s plan of developing 100 Smart cities, Mr. Jaitley said these schemes faced the challenges posed by the Land Acquisition Bill. “Urbanization and suburbanization are the way forward. These cities can emerge as the engines of growth…There is no land (to be acquired), there are no contractors to make highways. A negative atmosphere exists due to the decisions by the Congress government,” Mr. Jaitley said. The NDA government plans to set up 100 Smart Cities by modernising existing mid-sized cities and developing satellite towns of larger towns. Pointing out that the UPA had pending projects worth Rs.7 lakh crore, Mr. Jaitley said ‘soft-decisions’ on populism dictated the politics of the previous government. Ridiculing the Congress for its lack of decision-making, Mr. Jaitley said under its rule, the Prime Minister seldom had the last word and an “anonymous letter was enough for the Defence Minister to stop purchases.”
Mr. Jaitley, who was speaking at a BJP-organised event here, bemoaned the high rate of inflation and low growth and said the situation needed to be reversed. He blamed the UPA government for the policy paralysis and low rate of economic growth. “The Congress thought its decisions are popular, and will benefit them during the Lok Sabha elections. In the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha elections, they distributed free medicines and emptied the State treasury but that didn’t work for them,” Mr. Jaitley said.
Stating that he too enjoyed many subsidies even though, he felt, he was not entitled to, Mr. Jaitley warned “this pattern won’t do good to anybody or benefit the country” and needs to end.
Mr. Jaitley also echoed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stress on manufacturing and endorsed the idea that the Planning Commission be replaced by another institution, saying these were measures for a sustained growth.
Expressing that the Central government was going towards a market-oriented economy but with ‘social consciousness’, Mr. Jaitley stated that “being pro-poor and pro-business are not contradictory, both have to exist at the same time.” The NDA government was not a high-taxation government but would focus on incentivising savings among people, he said.
