For the first time on Monday, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party sought to outline his party’s economic policy which has often been criticised for being ambiguous. Asking for the participation of industries in the crusade against corruption, the AAP leader and former Delhi CM Kejriwal said that his economic stance was based on three things - security to citizens, justice and honest graft-rid governance.
“We have possibly the best economist leading the country today. The best of economic policies simply remained on paper. The best of policies never got implemented and there was no honesty. The AAP’s economic policy is the honest policy,” he said, speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meet in the Capital on Monday.
He added that the business community is haunted by ‘fear.’ “Development is done by people and not the Government. Businessmen are scared of the system, which prevents them to work honestly. People want to work honestly, for which the obstacle to business need to be removed. They’re constantly under the threat of being harassed and persecuted by the police. We need to create an environment which encourages businessmen, not discourage them. While I was the Delhi Chief Minister, businessmen had issues regarding VAT and we sorted out those issues immediately. Currently, we are ‘first class’ citizens with a ‘third class’ Government,” he added.
It was also for the first time that Kejriwal publicly admitted that they may have made mistakes; their policies may be wrong, but their intentions are not corrupt and they wanted to make a new India. Kejriwal also clarified that he was not against capitalism and claimed that they are against crony capitalism and a ‘small section’ of people are looting the country.
After taking on Reliance India limited chief Mukesh Ambani and other industrialists during his tenure as the Delhi Chief Minister, Kejriwal again emphasised that there is ‘a very small section of businessmen who are looting the country’ and the AAP was only against them. During the CII meet, Kejriwal tried to convince the heads of corporate houses after saying that all business activities of the country should be in private hands and business should be free from political interference. “Why is a businessman hounded by the system and policeIJ We have created a system where an honest businessman is scared of showing his profit. We need to encourage business, we have to simplify the system,” he said.
He admitted that there is a significant lack of the government jobs and praised industry for driving economic and inclusive growth and said that it was business that is best suited to address needs such as ‘inclusive growth’ through the creation of jobs. The Government, he said, cannot create jobs; it can only create an eco-system that supports the creation of jobs. Elaborating on the role of the Government, he said that the Government must provide ‘security, justice and corruption-free governance’ for growth and development to take place.
In order to secure better prices for the agriculture sector, he also batted for de-regulation of agricultural prices in the country and pressed at market driven pricing system for agriculture sector. “In agricultural sector pricing is important, control on farmers should be lifted, we should deregulate agricultural sector,” he added.