IANS | 05 Feb, 2024
A day after presenting the Interim Budget 2024, Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday defended her statement on presenting a
‘White Paper’ on pre-2014 United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government,
saying there couldn’t have been a ‘better time’ than this for revealing
the state of economy before BJP assumed power in 2014.
The Finance
Minister, in her first post-Interim Budget interview, said that this is
the ‘right time to commission a white paper’.
Speaking to NDTV
Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, Sitharaman said, "We took the Indian
economy from fragile to the top. This is why we are bringing in a white
paper now. This is the right time."
Sitharaman explained that when
Narendra Modi-led BJP government took to power in 2014, the economy was
in bad shape but the Prime Minister made it a point not to reveal the
‘fragile economy’ to the world as this would have sent a worrying signal
to the industry & businessmen and nobody would have thought of
investing in one of the fastest-growing economy.
She said that the
pre-2014 economy suffered from policy paralysis & corruption but
the Modi government ‘kept the people first’ and silently &
rigorously worked over the years to turn the economy from ‘fragile to
robust’ state.
"If we had brought a white paper at that time,
nobody would have invested in the country looking at the fragile state
of the economy," Ms Sitharaman explained.
For the uninitiated,
Finance Minister in her Interim Budget 2024 said that the government
will bring a White Paper to show the mismanagement of economy prior to
2014, so that people could compare & infer their conclusions.
“It
is now appropriate to look at where we were then till 2004 and where we
are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from mismanagement of
those years. The government will lay a White Paper on table of the
House,” she had announced.
Notably, the Narendra Modi-led NDA came to power in May 2014 after ending a 10-year reign of the Congress-led UPA government.
In
her first interview post the Interim Budget, Sitharaman also expressed
confidence that people will vote BJP back to power for the third
consecutive term, owing to its strong connect and belief in Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing the ‘no-populist’ announcements
made in the Interim Budget, she said her government has always
prioritised empowerment over sops and bonanzas.
"We are confident
because people's faith in the PM is unwavering... Because in the last 10
years, we not only announced pro-people schemes, but worked hard to
make sure that every last eligible person benefited from these policies.
We did what we promised," Sitharaman told the news channel.
She
told NDTV that the Modi govt in its two tenures not only announced
pro-people schemes, but also worked whole-heartedly to implement and
ensure that they reach the ‘last man standing’ in the queue.
"People blessed us the first time (and) the second time... And it will happen this time too," she said.
For
the unversed, the Interim Budget is not a full-time Budget. A regular
Budget outlines the country's economic and financial trajectory for the
entire financial year. The Interim Budget, on the other hand, gives an
outline of the same, only for the transition period till the formation
of the new government.
Sitharaman, while presenting the Interim
Budget, had also recalled the government's achievements and promised
reforms for realising the ‘Viksit Bharat’ dream by 2047.
He
remarks drew a lot of flak from opposition political parties, as they
took dig at the Finance Minister saying she presented her ‘last Budget’.
Samajwadi
Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called it a ‘farewell Budget’, while the
Shiv Sena said “FM poured cold water on people’s expectations".