Former Finance Minister in then Vajpayee Government Yashwant Sinha criticised current BJP Government on Tuesday claiming that demonetisation and GST are a complete failure and dented the economic growth of the nation.
Modi Government at the Centre received some problems from the previous Government which badly needed to be addressed, said Sinha adding that those were the non-performing assets (NPA) of the banking sector and the stalled projects over 25 lakh crore. Although the number of stalled projects had decreased somewhat in last three-and-a-half years, projects worth Rs 17 to Rs 18 lakh still remained stalled, he added.
According to him old projects hadn’t moved forward and no new projects were taken up. Moreover, NPA of around 8 lakh crore should be the cause of concern, he stated.
‘‘The growth rate has fallen because of these reasons. The growth rate that stood at 4.7 per cent during UPA has in fact gone down at 3.5 per cent in reality and not 5.7 per cent as claimed by the present Government, he added.
According to him, one of the biggest flaws in the GST was that 40 per cent of the revenue stream, including petroleum products, alcohol and some aspects of construction sector, were out of purview. In order to give relief to the people of India, these items should be come under GST regime, he opined.
Coming down heavily on Modi Government for keeping high petroleum prices, he said that when the new Government took over in May, the petroleum products were at $110 per barrel. These crashed to $30 by August but the Government didn’t pass on the benefits to the consumers, he added.
The veteran BJP leader is on a three-day visit to the poll-bound State on an invitation of a social organisation called lokshahi Bachao Andolan. The 80-year-old bureaucrat turned politician was angry over his inclusion in the saffron party’s ‘Margdarshak Mandal’. He claimed that despite being an octogenarian he could deliver lectures standing on Dias. On India’s surge in the ease of doing business index, Sinha said that the Government at centre should think about what people of India believe rather than what world opines.