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Journalism of Courage
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the stimulus package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is yet another “sly attempt” to dazzle the people with exaggerated numbers and mislead them.
The former Finance Minister said the only way to generate demand is by “sharply stepping up” spending by 10 per cent more of the GDP, whereas the fiscal impact of the Centre’s announcements on Monday is estimated by analysts to be a mere 0.1 per cent of GDP.
“After carefully reading the statement of the Finance Minister on the so-called stimulus package, I am reminded of the Hindi proverb khoda pahaad nikla chuha. Loosely translated, it means ‘dig a mountain and find a mouse’
“… the grand announcement was no stimulus package to push economic growth, it was another sly attempt to dazzle the people with exaggerated numbers and lead them to believe that the government is hands-on and responsive to the needs of the people and the economy. It is also a candid confession that the earlier so-called ‘Rs 20 lakh crore package’ was a massive failure. It was a failure because it was a hoax,” he said.
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Chidambaram said the Centre is also trying to play the role of “ma-baap” by telling government employees “what amount and on what goods and when they should spend their own money.”
