E-Paper
‘Creating monopolies...’: Rahul Gandhi’s jab on government’s monetization plan
The Monetization Pipeline will lease infrastructure assets of central government ministries and state-run companies to build new infrastructure.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday dubbed the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious monetization scheme of public assets as an attempt to create a monopoly in critical areas that, according to the former party president, would cut down more job opportunities and wipe out the informal sector. He also cautioned that unemployment can lead to social tension and violence.
“We are not against privatization. Our (UPA government’s) privatization had a logic and there was no privatization of strategic industry such as the railways. All this privatization is for creating monopolies. You know who owns ports and getting airports,” he said, alleging the Prime Minister is “selling the crown jewels of India.”
The Monetization Pipeline, as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Monday, will lease infrastructure assets of central government ministries and state-run companies to create ₹6 trillion fund to build new infrastructure.
Among projects, the government plans to lease are 26,700km of roads, 90 passenger trains, 400 railway stations, 28,608 circuit km transmission lines, 286,000km of Bharatnet fibre network and 14,917 towers owned by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd.
Reacting to Gandhi’s conference, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the Congress itself is a “Non-Performing Asset” which has neither any value outside nor inside.
The Congress is trying to become a “champion of confusion and contradiction”, he said. “…while on one hand, the Modi government and the BJP are engaged in the construction of the country, the Congress is involved in the destruction of the country”, Naqvi added.
While Sitharaman categorically ruled out any sale of land, her predecessor P Chidambaram termed the exercise as “a grand bargain sale” and quipped, “virtually, no public sector will exist after this.”
Gandhi, who has often alleged the government of helping a chosen few industrialists, reiterated the same charges and said “It took 70 years to build this massive infrastructure. People’s money was involved but now these are being sold to 3-4 people. As soon as these become monopolies, employment opportunities would be shrunk. Small business, medium business will not exist,” he claimed.
Chidambaram mocked the government’s announcement on infrastructure pipeline and pointed that the government has announced the same special fund for infrastructure on three different occasions.
The former finance minister pointed out there are no criteria and goals for the monetization scheme. “We are going to raise ₹1.54 lakh crore every year—can this be a sole goal to sell assets? You don’t embark upon the exercise without consulting stakeholders. This is all hatched in secrecy in this wonderful organization called Niti Aayog,” said Chidambaram.
He also added that the National infrastructure pipeline is a project of ₹100 lakh crore. “How can you match ₹100 lakh crore with ₹6 lakh crore in 5 years?
Gandhi refused to accept that some of these areas are languishing or underutilized. But later he said, the Congress won’t mind if stadiums are put on lease as they are not strategic assets.
He also underlined how the UPA government’s privatization policy only dealt with chronically ill companies or those with minimal market shares. “We didn’t allow the creation of monopolies. But all this privatization is for creating monopolies. You know who owns ports and getting airports,” said Gandhi.
Gandhi compared the government’s move with British Raj’s East India Company and said, “Modi believes large monopolies can save this country. You will see a dramatic increase in anger and violence. Modi is an instrument for doing some particular job for these people.”
