Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in the Rajya Sabha yesterday and Lok Sabha today
New Delhi:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today launched a scathing attack on critics – particularly the Congress – accusing the Narendra Modi government of crony capitalism, ignoring the poorer sections of society and mishandling of the farmers’ protest against the agriculture laws.
“Who are our cronies? Our cronies are the common ‘janta‘ (people) of this country,” Ms Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha, ahead of her reply on budget-related questions.
“Where are the cronies? They’re hiding probably in the shadow of that party which has been rejected by the people (a reference to the Congress). The shadows who were invited to even develop a port… they were invited. No open tenders, no global tenders,” she continued.
Ms Sitharaman singled out Congress MP Rahul Gandhi – who has attacked the centre over the farmers’ protest and the India-China border stand-off in the past few days.
The Finance Minister appeared to mock Mr Gandhi and his party for “U-turns” in their support of farmers, declaring that Congress-ruled governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab had still not delivered on promises of loan waivers for farmers.
She also criticised Mr Gandhi’s understanding of the new agriculture laws, which the centre says will help farmers by allowing them to sell at markets and prices of their choice.
The farmers, however, fear this means the closure of traditional mandis, or wholesale markets. The opposition, has flagged this issue, among others, saying it will lead to large-scale job losses.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has frequently accused the centre of crony capitalism (File)
“Have APMCs (mandis) been closed after the introduction of the Farmers Act? He (Mr Gandhi) was speaking like they had been… They (the new laws) are also helping improve the condition of APMCs. He (Mr Gandhi) is insulting everyone… whether President, Prime Minister or Speaker… constantly lying and insulting the country,” Ms Sitharaman raged.
The Finance Minister also referred both to Mr Gandhi’s “hum do hamhare do” comment about closed power networks in the government and the term “damaad” (son-in-law) in a two-for-one swipe.
“It would have been nice if he (Mr Gandhi) who talked about “hum do hamhare do” also talked about returning damaads returning land.. but didn’t say anything about this,” she said, referring to investigations into land deals involving Robert Vadra, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law.
Ms Sitharaman also defended the centre over schemes like the PM Street Vendors’ Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme – which offers collateral-free loans to street vendors.
“The PM SVANidhi Yojana, for those who constantly accuse us of dealing with cronies, doesn’t go to cronies. Damaads get land in states which are governed by some parties – Rajasthan, Haryana once upon a time,” she said.
On Friday Ms Sitharaman launched an all-out assault on the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said it had become “a sort of habit… to constantly allege… this government works only for cronies“.
“…in spite of what we are doing for the poor and the steps taken for helping the poor and needy of this country…a false narrative is created,” the Finance Minister said.
Allegations of crony capitalism by the Modi government have been frequently levied by the Congress; most recently Congress MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted “Crony-jeevi is someone who is selling the country“, in response to the Prime Minister’s “andolan jeevi” remark in parliament.
With input from ANI