leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Saturday hit out at the current UPA leadership but praised former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, who, he said, brought about ‘a turning point’ in economic policies. He said that the recent history has not been very kind to Rao who worked at a time when a clarity was yet to emerge in economic policies.
Coming down heavily on the incumbent Prime Minister, Jaitley said the country cannot afford to have ‘a non-politician’ as a Prime Minister, however, ‘attractive’ he might look. Without naming Manmohan Singh, the senior BJP leader said politicians are not known by years in Government but by ‘footprints they leave behind.’ He said the country paid heavily by not selecting ‘a national leader as PM.’ He spoke of what he called ‘indecisiveness’ and policy paralysis in the UPA Government causing recurring harm to the investment environment in the country, slackening of FDI and breaking of communication between the government and the main Opposition. Contrasting it with ‘the strong leadership’ in Gujarat, Jaitley said though Modi came under relentless criticism of his political opponents, he chose not to respond and instead went ahead with his ‘agenda’ that helped
Gujarat do a developmental leapfrog. Jaitley said Saurashtra in the State had at one time “no drinking water” but now agricultural growth has “doubled” during Modi’s governance and rural economy has turned stronger. He said the Gujarat Government has developed ports all along the coast which had helped fishermen, cited the case of “milk revolution” and drew attention to the fact that Gujarat is now known for “Growth in manufacturing sector”.
Referring to the non-traditional thinking in “Gujarat model”, Jaitley said Ahmedabad Development Authority has developed good quality urban homes “half the price in the country.” BJP leader said reduction in the cost of houses owe it to the policy in Gujarat that “instead of shrinking land availability expand it” “I think it was decisiveness at the leadership level playing decisive role”, Jaitley said summing up the reasons for “the success” in Gujarat. “Bureaucracy also fine tuned to new political culture and to the eventual model that grew,” he hastened to add.