Congress and Left parties on Tuesday said the Government’s latest financial package will not stimulate demand and termed it another “sly attempt” to dazzle people with exaggerated numbers and it was a move to hoodwink people.
Former finance minister P Chidambaram said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcements on Monday were like “dig a mountain and find a mouse”, and an attempt to lead people to believe that the Government is hands-on and responsive to the needs of people and the economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Rajya Saha member alleged that it is also an admission that the earlier “Rs 20 lakh crore package” was a failure and termed it a “hoax”. He also said that by the latest announcements, the Government is trying to interfere in people’s lives by telling them how to spend their own money.
“After carefully reading the statement of the finance minister on the so-called stimulus package, I am reminded of the Hindi proverb ‘Khoda Pahaad, Nikla Chuha’ or loosely translated, it means ‘dig a mountain and find a mouse’. The grand announcement yesterday was no stimulus package to push economic growth, it was another sly attempt to dazzle the people with exaggerated numbers and lead them to believe that the government is hands-on and responsive to the needs of the people and the economy,” Chidambaram said at AICC Press briefing.
The former finance minister said it is also a candid confession that the earlier so-called ‘Rs 20 lakh crore package was a massive failure’. “It was a failure because it was a hoax,” he said.
Chidambaram said the numbers claimed in the package are a “hoax” as the stimulus is not of a value of Rs 73,000 crore, as claimed, but merely 0.1 per cent of GDP, as estimated by some economists.
The Congress leader also alleged that the Government is also trying to play the role of “maa-baap” by telling employees what amount and on what goods and when they should spend their own money.