A day after the World Bank released its report that India had improved its rankings, the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress sparred on micro-blogging site Twitter. While Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi used a Mirza Ghalib couplet, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley used crafty words hitting back at the Gandhi scion.
Rahul put out a Ghalib verse to say the Finance Minister was deluding himself. "Sabko maloom hai ‘ease of doing business’ ki haqeeqat, lekin khud ko khush rakhne ke liye ‘Dr Jaitley’ ye khayal achha hai (everybody knows the reality of ease of doing business, but this thought, Dr Jaitley, is good to keep yourself happy).”
Jaitley retorted by saying that UPA's "ease of doing corruption" has been replaced by NDA's "ease of doing business". "The difference between the UPA and NDA — 'The ease of doing corruption has been replaced by the ease of doing business'," Jaitley said.
For his part, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Aajkal Rahulji har cheez par raay rakh rahe hain, jo kuch bachta hai wo Pidi se rakhwa rahe hain. Theek hai uska bhi adhikaar hai. (Pidi is Gandhi's pet dog)."
According to the World Bank report, India's rank on the 'ease of doing business' scale has risen from 130 to 100 this year, helped by a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution.