Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the government, under the Start-Up India programme, encouraged people who sell golgappas , vada pav and pakoda (street foods) to open desi (indigenous) McDonald’s.
Mr. Sinha’s remark came when Opposition MPs tried to corner the government on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement in a television interview a few days ago that selling pakodas was also an instance of employment.
Mr. Sinha said several pakoda sellers in his constituency of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand had benefited from the government’s Mudra loan scheme. Earlier, they got loans at 25-30% interest, but the NDA government was giving it for 8-10%.
Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address, Congress MP Ahmad Patel said the government was trying to present a “rosy picture” about the Budget and asked why the pending bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were not being held. “They know that if elections are held today, they will become a minority government,” he said.
Mr. Patel attacked the Prime Minister for exhibiting a sea-plane on the Sabarmati river front during the Gujarat Assembly election campaign in December. “There is no water in the Narmada river. When farmers did not require water, excess water was released into Sabarmati river. Canals were inaugurated and when cracks appeared in the canals, entire water was wasted. Gujarat government issued a notification that there is no water in Narmada and farmers should not sow Rabi [sown in winter and harvested in spring] crops.”
Mr. Patel said in 2004, when the Vajpayee government left office, the annual per capita income was ₹24,000. In 2014, when the Manmohan Singh-led government ended its term, this had risen to ₹70,000. In contrast, the debt during the NDA rule has risen and it was “clear who is digging potholes.”
Satish Chandra Mishra of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) said selling pakodas was not a small thing. But here, the government is telling people that since it cannot provide employment they should sell pakodas .
CPI leader D. Raja said the government had been working against political democracy and deepened the social inequality through its policy of “divide and misrule.”
“Quoting [Dr. Babasaheb] Ambedkar and then acting contrary to his vision has been the practice of this government.. It sounds offensive to the very vision of the Constitution and the legacy of Dr. Ambedkar,” Mr. Raja said.
