Congress faces bankruptcy of ideas: Javadekar

Javadekar said that bringing cooperative federalism was a big change which the Narendra Modi government brought.

May 22, 2015 07:18 pm | Updated April 02, 2016 11:54 pm IST - New Delhi

Hitting back at Congress over its jibe that the Narendra Modi government is a ‘selfie’ government, BJP on Friday said the opposition party is facing “bankruptcy” of ideas and mud they were throwing was falling back on their faces.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar also attacked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on being “active” these days and said some people go on “hibernation” for 56 days after being “hyperactive”.

“Congress is facing bankruptcy of ideas. They are throwing stones at us but those stones are hitting them back at double speed. The mud they are throwing at us is falling on their faces. We are doing good work, they had done wrong,” Mr. Javadekar told PTI .

Hitting back on opposition’s allegation that the present government was a “ suit-boot ki sarkar ”, Mr. Javadekar said the previous UPA regime was a “ suitcase ki sarkar ” and it should not point at the NDA government.

“Arunji (Arun Jaitley) said that our government is not ‘ suit-boot ki sarkar ’ but ‘ sooj-boojh ki sarkar ’ But Congress government was ‘ suitcase ki sarkar .’ They should first reveal that part. When their government was ‘ suitcase ki sarkar ’, why they are pointing at us,” he said.

Noting that the Congress had dismissed the CAG’s estimated loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore in the coal scam, Mr. Javadekar said that when his government auctioned 20 mines out of 200 in a “transparent” way, it raised Rs. 2 lakh crore. He also referred to the example of spectrum allocation in which the government garnered Rs. 1.9 lakh crore.

Mr. Javadekar said that bringing cooperative federalism was a big change which the Narendra Modi government brought while prices too have come down giving relief to people.

“There was no social security even after 60 years of independence. Around 14 crore Jan Dhan accounts have been opened. 5.5 crore people have taken part in the programme in which there is Bima Yojana, Jeevan Bima, Suraksh Bima and Atal pension.

“Those who did not have pension will get now. We are taking the states into confidence, policies have become transparent, decisions are being taken based on policies. We are promoting infrastructure development in each sector. The way environment ministry has started taking transparent and policy-based decisions has changed the situation,” he said.

Mr. Javadekar said that the initiatives taken in this one year will yield results.

The Minister also expressed hope that the other Bills including the Land Acquisition Bill will be passed in the next two months.

“Our 30 bills have been passed. All those bills were important. 90 per cent bills have been passed, while 10 per cent of bills have gone to select committee or joint committee. I am confident that these bills will get passed in the next two months,” he said.

On the black money issue, Mr. Javadekar said that the government has come up with such a law under which those who stash black money abroad will go to jail for 10 years.

“We discussed positively about this issue abroad. The earlier government was not interested to discuss. Switzerland now has decided to share information. Everyone wants to share information,” he said.

He said that although investigation has begun and even the Supreme Court had given direction to SIT, it was not implemented by Congress regime in 2.5 years, but the Narendra Modi government did in 2.5 days.

“There was no strong action on black money issue earlier. There will be controls on black money. These are initial steps. We have taken many good initiatives to ensure good days ( achhe din ).

“The governments is moving in the right direction. If the country moves in this direction, India will be amongst the top countries in the world,” he said.

>

RSS to tone down criticism of the BJP

The Sangh has decided to back the Land Acquisition Bill that had the government on the back foot.

>

Modi and his Chakravyuh

In the Mahabharata, the Chakravyuh was a seven-spiralled battle formation. A look at what the seven circles of Indian polity are.

>

Promise on transparency

Without a head, functioning of CIC has come to a halt.

>

Dissent casts a shadow

Cut in fund allocations raises the hackles of Cabinet colleague.

>

No acche din for higher education

The govt's approach to education is destructive of autonomy and diversity, writes Zoya Hasan.

>

The republic without a language

The more we use words like 'saviour' or 'super hero', the more we lose the language of democracy.

>

When the traveller returns

Year Two has to be about the economy. The world is waiting to see what India has to offer in real terms, writes Sanjaya Baru

>

The strategy behind the inaction

Big economic reform is risky for BJP, whose priority is to replace the Congress as India's default party. By Dhiraj Nayyar

>

Tea goes cold in Bihar

The biggest challenge the BJP faces is the likely alliance of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, says Amarnath Tewary

>

Ghar ghar Modi, Bharat bhar Modi

Modi succeeds in building the foundation of a resurgent India, says V.N. Dhoot, Chairman of Videocon group

>

'States unlikely to bridge gap in funding'

Greater share in taxes may not compensate for budget cuts in Central schemes.

>

Hashtags that trended under #ModiSarkar

Here's a look at few hashtags that trended this year under the Modi regime, triggering some fairly heated online exchanges.

Modi's first year in cartoons

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.