The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has blamed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for slackening the pace of economic reforms, leading to a dip in the country’s growth.
Party leader Sushma Swaraj has issued a statement listing the BJP’s analysis of the Economic Survey, which had admitted that in view of the continuing slump in the global economy, India’s projected economic growth could see a further slowdown.
Swaraj blamed the UPA government for choking economic reforms, which, she claimed, were initiated by the A B Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. She said that the Manmohan Singh government, during its first tenure, had virtually choked the reforms for “political opportunism”.
“A stalled disinvestment programme, failure to promote foreign investments at desired rate and failure to channelise sufficient investments into infrastructure have all resulted in sapping a growth curve which was poised to enter the double-digit domain (remember it clocked 9.7 per cent in 2007),” she said.
Terming the Economic Survey as a huge “wish list”, Swaraj said that although the growth was projected between 8.5 per cent and 9 per cent in 2009-10, much of the growth momentum would depend on attracting high levels of investments. She wondered why the Economic Survey did not list the steps which would make India an attractive destination for global investors.
Picking holes in the survey on UPA’s pet concern for “aam admi”, the BJP alleged the document was silent on several issues concerning common people. The statement said the survey had adopted a “selective silence” on issues like job losses, farmers’ plight, widening gulf between the rich and the poor, and, more importantly, on the soaring food prices.
“Is this survey about the 40 per cent Indians? The rest 60 per cent have only one prescription — doles. Is there a long-term vision for these teeming millions?,” the BJP leader asked.
The party condemned the UPA for its inability to spell out a road map on checking high food prices in the economic document. Swaraj warned the government that unless the inflation in food prices was tackled, all the benefits of debt waiver would go awry.
Meanwhile, an angry Maneka Gandhi today shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accusing his government of “lackadaisical” attitude in dealing with the threat to the life of her son Varun Gandhi, a BJP MP, and demanded proper security.
A day after Delhi Police said it has arrested six sharpshooters of Chota Shakeel gang allegedly planning to kill the lawyer of Varun, Maneka said, “I find it bizarre that we have never been informed of any attempts or even been advised on any security precautions. We simply learn of these attempts through the media.”
