Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) old hand and former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha has criticised the ruling party’s economic performance in an Indian Express opinion piece.
In the scathing article, concluding with, “The prime minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters,” Sinha attacks the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
Here are 5 important things that he has said:
1) Sinha claimed that Jaitley was a relatively lucky finance minister because he took charge at a time when global crude oil prices are half the rate they used to be. But he claims that the current finance minister with “Superman”-like abilities has not been able to use this to the economy’s benefit.
2) Drawing parallels to when he held the post of finance minister, Sinha claims that it is a job that requires undivided attention. However, Jaitley has been a jack of all trades of sorts, handling important portfolios like finance, defence and corporate affairs at the same time.
3) Calling demonetisation (DeMo) an “unmitigated disaster”, the BJP veteran has highlighted that it, along with GST, were poorly conceived concepts. Implementation of DeMo and GST led to sinking businesses and a declining economy.
4) Sinha claims that State Bank of India (SBI) minced no words while pointing out that the economy is going through a slowdown which is not going to get resolved in the near future.
5) Sinha says that the BJP had protested against “raid raj” while in Opposition but that has become the order of the day now.
Naturally, this attack from a BJP veteran evoked amusing and strong reactions on Twitter:
Former BJP FM Yashwant Sinha launches a blistering attack on Jaitley for mismanaging economy. https://t.co/jy6p7crrX3 pic.twitter.com/V9HzNiOQMW
— Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) September 26, 2017
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First Shourie, then @Swamy39 , now Yashwant Sinha: guess the opposition (enemy?) to the Modi Govt lies within!😄
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 27, 2017
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Yashwant Sinha speaks Truth to Power. Will Power now admit the Truth that economy is sinking?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) September 27, 2017
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If Yashwant Sinha has decided to speak up, he must apportion equal blame to PM Modi for econonic mess. https://t.co/RbIZk7xDrf
— M K Venu (@mkvenu1) September 27, 2017
Ladies & Gentlemen, this is your copilot & FM speaking. Plz fasten your seat belts & take brace position.The wings have fallen off our plane https://t.co/IsOA8FQa6u
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 27, 2017
–@ManishTewari on Yashwant Sinha’s excellent piece in the @IndianExpress. #Imustspeakupnow pic.twitter.com/A2psYiVXwt
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) September 27, 2017
Yashwant Sinha speaks Truth to Power. Will Power now admit the Truth that economy is sinking?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) September 27, 2017
Great piece by Yashwant Sinha, echoing Dr Swamy’s warnings on our Economy. BJP should be proud to have such critics. https://t.co/k0Om3DzyZB
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) September 27, 2017
Yashwant Sinha tells us how Modi/Jaitley have wrecked the economy. ‘Others in BJP feel the same,but afraid to speak’ https://t.co/SEA8G3L4Mf
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) September 27, 2017
V hard hitting article by Sh Yashwant Sinha jiI need to speak up now – The Indian Express https://t.co/qnt0kG2X3F
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 27, 2017
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Feature image source: AFP/ScoopWhoop News