Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the World Banks’s ease of doing business report that saw India climb 30 spots, the PEW survey that underlined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and the Moody’s ratings upgrade were three “successive endorsements” of the government.
Mr. Goyal said the Modi government had looked beyond “political self-interest” to take tough decisions on economic reforms and increasing transparency in economic activity.
Responding to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s characterisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime as “Gabbar Singh Tax” Mr. Goyal said, “What the ill-informed regard as ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ the more informed have now recognised as a landmark in economic reforms in India.” He dismissed Congress’s doubts of the Moody’s upgrade coming in a little too conveniently for the ruling party as a reflection of the Opposition party’s “desperation.” “The Congress should not stoop so low that India’s interests are hurt,” he said.
A reformist govt.
He also said that the last upgrade from Moody’s for the Indian economy was under the NDA regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “It proves that the NDA governments are reformist in their policies while Congress rule leads to stagnation,” he said.
The three “endorsements”, especially those by the World Bank and Moody’s could not have come at a better time for the BJP that faces an important electoral battle in Gujarat, a State that is particularly sensitive to business concerns.
Mr. Goyal refused to commit to whether, just as the Uttar Pradesh elections were termed as a referendum on demonetisation, the Gujarat polls would be one on GST. “Our dharma is to stay on the path of good governance and effective delivery to the people of India. Endorsements, ratings upgrade, certification, surveys, election results are incidental. We are working for the people of India and people have endorsed us,” he said.
BJP on rise
He said the number of BJP-supported governments went up from six in 2014, to 18 today. “By next month they will be 19 and we are fast transitioning to a corruption-free and Congress-free India in the years to come,” he said.
“In Himachal Pradesh, there are some people who are predicting as high as 58-60 seats for the BJP. In Gujarat, people have seen the delivery of good governance for 22 years and I wouldn’t be at all hesitant to predict a 150-plus tally for the BJP in Gujarat,” he said.
