Coming down heavily on the BJP government, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Friday said the country's economy was affected with coronavirus but the Centre was giving medication for common cold.
His remarks were countered by former Union minister Jayant Sinha who said that the Opposition was looking behind whereas the government was looking ahead at a 10-trillion dollar economy.
"India's economy is in very critical stage...The economy has been affected with coronavirus while the government was giving the medication for common cold," Tewari said initiating the discussion on Union Budget 2020-21.
Stating that the country's GDP growth at five per cent was the lowest in 11 years, Tewari said the employment rate was the lowest in the last few decades.
The government, he said, wanted to meet the fiscal deficit target by divesting stakes in PSUs such as BPCL and Air India and questioned the government on whether it believed in the public sector.
He claimed India's economy would be affected due to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR), and urged the government to rise above partisan politics.
Sinha countered the attacked of the Opposition, stating that the Congress is seeing through the rear view mirror and looking back and "we (BJP) are looking ahead at 10 trillion dollar economy".
Claiming that crony capitalism was at its peak during the UPA rule, he said that under the rule of the Congress there was "billionaire raaj".
"We removed the UPA era 'billionaire's raj' and replaced it with 'people's raaj'," he said.
Stating tha budget was for the common man and a "feel good" budget, he said, "We have to look forward."
Stating that the economy was moving with a great pace, he said, "If we look at the GST collection numbers we will find that the economy is moving ahead."
He also said interest rates have come down and inflation declined which would boost consumption.
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