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“Yashwant Sinha speaks truth to power. Will power now admit the truth that economy is sinking,” said senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday. He said this after senior BJP leader and former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha wrote in The Indian Express on Wednesday criticising the BJP government’s handling of the economy.
Sinha wrote in his article: “Finance ministry, in the best of times, calls for the undivided attention of its boss if the job has to be properly done. In challenging times it becomes more than a 24/7 job. Naturally, even a superman like Jaitley could not do justice to the task.”
Chidambaram pointed out statistics that Sinha laid out to stress that the state of the economy was not as good as it was portrayed according to GDP growth rate numbers.
Sinha wrote that due to the new method of calculating GDP growth rate, the actual figure changes significantly.
Chidambaram took the point from Sinha’s piece where he says that when the BJP was in Opposition, it was against the “raid raj” but now it seems to be the order of the day.
Later in the day, addressing a press conference, Chidambaram hit out at the government saying, “Congress has, for nearly 18 months, highlighted these very grave weaknesses in economy. We were told, in effect, to shut up.”
Takinga dig at PM Modi’s slogan of ‘achhe din’, Chidambaram said, “I ask, how long will the government hide behind the rhetoric of the Prime Minister and the slogans of the party? It is a small mercy that we no longer hear the slogan “achhe din aanewale hai”. As I travel around the country, what I hear is “achhe din to aaye nahi, yeh burre din kab jaayenge?”
The former minister also urged reporters to write about the state of economy without being scared. “My appeal to all of you, and especially to those who are knowledgeable about the economy, is to speak and write without fear. Darr ko chhod do,” he said.
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