Jaitley defends inflation record after Rahul attack

Finance minister tells Congress vice-president 'any form of bluster is not a substitute for statistics'

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday reeled out statistics in the Lok Sabha to assert the government had brought down inflation and expressed hope that prices of essential commodites would come down further after a good monsoon, after Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi attacked the government on the same issue.

After Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged the government had failed to control prices, particularly of essential commodities, Jaitley contended the present National Democratic Alliance government had inherited high inflation from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance dispensation.

“Any form of bluster is not a substitute for statistics,” he told the Congress vice-chief while intervening in a debate on price rise. And, asked him to compare the status of inflation during the UPA government and now. Insisting the Modi government had reduced inflation and kept it under control, the finance minister said he expected it to reduce further with a "good" monsoon. He acknowledged the high prices of pulses was a concern and said steps were being taken to address this. Noting India has the highest production and highest consumption of pulses, he said while the demand was for 23 million tonnes in a year, output was normally around 17 mt, expected to rise to 20 mt this crop year. A buffer stock of two mt was being created.

He rapped Gandhi for asking the PM to set a date by when prices would come down, saying issues are settled through policies rather than giving dates.

The government was working on policies to encourage farmers to produce more and India was moving towards self-sufficiency in pulses, he said.

The rise in these prices was due to a rise in costs globally, beside two years of drought.

“You are talking about a government which left behind double digit inflation and today we have a situation where steps have been taken in each sector to contain inflation,” he said.

Earlier, Gandhi called the PM ‘arhar Modi’ and tore into his election promise of bringing down prices. He also needled Modi on his election slogan asking people to make him a ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) and said there was “theft” of pulses.