Congress leader and former Union Minister Dr Charandas Mahanta on Saturday termed the one-year rule of Narendra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre as “a total failure”.
Addressing a Press conference here, he said that the Modi Government did not keep up the promises made to the people of the country. Attacking the Government over non-implementation of ‘one-rank-one-pension’ (OROP) scheme, he said the UPA Government had made provisions for the scheme and had even allocated money, but the Modi Government failed to implement it.
“One year has passed, but the Modi Government has not proceeded with the issue. The ex-servicemen had knocked the doors of the Government, but nothing materialised. Army, Navy and Air Force take care of the nation and secure our borders and hence, their demands should be met with priority. But the Modi Sarakar is avoiding their demand and is compromising with national interest and security, he asserted.
Further flaying the defence preparedness of the country, he said the Modi Government has utterly failed to spend the amount allocated for the defence by the Congress-led UPA Government in 2014-15. “We had allotted money and also taken a decision. But now, Congress feels that the present Government was “diluting” some of the provisions,” he said, branding the Government as anti-soldier. Mahanta further said the Modi Government had promised to create 250 million jobs annually at an average of 25 lakh jobs a month. But the labour Bureau survey for October-December 2014 showed a creation of a mere 1.70 lakh jobs.
During the past year, international crude oil price was at a record low, yet domestic petrol and diesel prices have shot up. He also pointed out that the imposition of MAT with retrospective effect led to crash in stock markets with erosion in foreign capital worth estimated Rs2 lakh crore and the rupee taking a tumble. Mahanta also pointed out that seven core sectors in the economy were showing negative growth. He alleged that not a single new original health scheme was launched in the first year, except re-naming some of UPA’s schemes.