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‘When an economist turns politician...’: Arun Jaitley targets Manmohan Singh
In a series of tweets, Jaitley pointed out that it was Manmohan Singh who left behind an economy in slowdown in 2014. He further said policy paralysis and corruption were also Manmohan Singh’s gifts to the Modi government.
In a counter-attack, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday accused former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of leaving behind an economy in slowdown, after Singh’s criticism that the Indian economy is in “dire straits” under PM Modi and also predicted that it is headed for a slowdown.
In a series of tweets, Jaitley pointed out that it was Manmohan Singh who left behind an economy in slowdown in 2014. He further said policy paralysis and corruption were also Manmohan Singh’s gifts to the Modi government. Jaitley also credited the former PM of bringing down the Congress party to its lowest tally in parliament in the last Lok Sabha elections. India was a part of the fragile five during the former PM’s time, Jaitley said in another tweet.
“When an Economist turns into a politician, he looses sense of both economy and politics,” tweeted Jaitley.
The comments came after Manmohan Singh, in an interview to PTI, found fault with PM Modi’s five-year rule, describing it as “most traumatic and devastating”. Singh, known as the architect of India’s economic reforms in 1990s, felt the country is headed for a slowdown and accused the Modi regime of leaving the country’s economy in “dire straits”.
In one of his most fierce attacks on the Modi dispensation, Singh alleged that the past five years only witnessed “stench” of corruption peaking to “unimaginable proportions”, adding demonetisation was perhaps the “biggest scam” of independent India.
Singh dismissed the notion that there was a wave in favour of Modi and asserted that the people have made up their minds to vote out the government that “does not believe in inclusive growth and is only worried about its political existence at the altar of disharmony”.
