Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday unleashed a blistering attack on the Centre as part of the Congress strategy to counter the Modi Government’s publicity blitzkrieg on the completion of one year in office. Citing sectoral statistics and figures, Sibal accused the ruling dispensation of failure to deliver on its poll promises and thriving through TV sound bites while uncontrolled price rise continued to burden the common man. The people of India have chosen a wrong person in Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister, he said.
“We have been listening to the punch line of acche din aane wale hain. Acche din to aaye nahi, kam se kam sachhe din to aa jaye,” said Sibal at the AICC briefing where he touched upon several key areas like condition of economy, administration, health, education and inflation. The party, which was reduced to its lowest-ever tally in the lok Sabha polls last year, has lined-up countrywide Press conferences to pick holes in the performance of the Modi Government on its completion of one year. Over the next few days, the Congress may field several former Cabinet Ministers to share their views and compare experiences of their days in respective Ministries with the incumbent ones.
“If you measure the performance of the Modi Government in the last one year on the basis of sound bytes on TV channels, then this Government and Modi have been very successful. If you measure the performance in honouring their promises on the ground, it has been an utter failure. Inflation for the aam aadmi has skyrocketed. Pulses are more expensive. Milk, mustard oil costs more than last year,” Sibal said.
Accusing Modi of speaking “without applying any thought”, Sibal said that commenting without checking facts has become his habit. Referring to Modi remarks while interacting with people of Indian-origin in Seoul on Monday that earlier people though that they had committed sins to have been born in India, Sibal said, “He speaks without thinking. It has become his habit. Sibal also played a clip of Modi’s speech in Seoul.
The Congress leader said people had made a mistake by choosing him as prime minister. “You have made a wrong person the Prime Minister... Instead of focusing on main issues, Modi would say that his biggest achievement was to bring the US President as the chief guest on Republic Day while farmers and small traders were suffering,” he added.
The former HRD and Telecom Minister also took a dig at Narendra Modi’s poll promises to get back black money stashed abroad and deposit Rs 15 lakh each in savings accounts of the poor people. “The promise has not yet been honoured. They have already regarded their commitment as a Chunavi Jumla,” quipped Sibal. On the economy front, Sibal reminded that when Rupee depreciated to around 64 to a dollar in September 2013, Modi had said it was a failure on part of Manmohan Singh’s economic policy. “Who is to be blamed for the slide of the Rupee nowIJ” he asked.
“They said that FDI is not ‘Foreign Direct Investment’, but ‘Foreign Direct Interference’ and today they have even welcomed the DIPP’s policy document permitting 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail trade. The economy is in a shambles. The real estate sector will take much more than sound bites to revive. The agricultural sector is crying for help, and the Government is not responding. The banking sector has accumulated gigantic levels of NPAs,” Sibal said.
Sibal also reminded that former Deputy Prime Minister lK Advani had said that they will re-negotiate the nuclear deal if brought to power, but now the same people in the Government have termed it as a centrepiece of India-US relationship. On the issue of Modi’s frequent foreign visits, Sibal said that before the elections, Modi had criticised the then Foreign Minister for going to China pursuant to Chinese intrusions within our territory, but he himself has done so when intrusions are still happening. Sibal also said that the BJP had opposed the land swap agreement with Bangladesh and now they have embraced it and take credit for it.