NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Friday saw heated exchanges between the Opposition and treasury benches during a discussion on the white paper presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) terms from 2004-2014.
Accusing the Congress-led UPA government of bringing the economy down to “fragile five” and its economic mismanagement during the 2008 global financial crisis, Sitharaman said the paper shows “which government puts the nation first, and which puts the families first.”
“We aim to achieve the Viksit Bharat goal by 2047, by taking everyone along. We adopt the nation-first approach, not ourselves first,” said the minister.
“Ten years of one government with some crisis and 10 years of a different government with different crisis — the comparison shown in this white paper clearly says how if the government handles it with sincerity, transparency and putting the nation first, the results are there for everybody to see,” she added.
Replying to the Opposition’s allegations of skyrocketing inflation in the last 10 years of the Modi government, she said that between 2004 and 2014, the average annual inflation was 8.2% and that in the last three years, it averaged 9.8%.
“Under UPA, retail inflation was more than 9% for 22 months, our retail inflation was mostly at 5%, never crossed 8%,” she said. Responding to the FM’s allegations, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the paper was a granary of concoctions and a mountain of lies.
“The purpose of bringing this kind of paper at the end of the session is to tarnish the 10 years of the UPA government. It is an electoral manifesto to win brownie points,” he said.
Listing out various achievements under the UPA rule, Chowdhury said that the UPA introduced the Panchayati Raj, instituted IITs and IIMs, and many other schemes.
Responding to the opposition’s claims on the rising unemployment levels in the country, Sitharaman said that labour markets had witnessed a falling unemployment rate from 5.8% in 2018-19, to 3.2% in 2022-23
“The unemployment rate of graduates has dropped to 13.4%, the decline was sharper for female graduates to 20.5% during this time,” she said.
Hitting out at the government, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that even BJP MPs do not believe the white paper tabled by the government.
“The BJP has opened an ‘ashram’ to protect all the corrupt people. We waived Rs 70,000 crore loans of farmers and they inducted a person who has allegedly committed Rs 70,000 irrigation scam. BJP is using ED as a weapon to shut Opposition voices and allow them to join BJP,” said Gogoi.
Lok Sabha to discuss Ram temple today
The Lok Sabha will have a discussion on the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya on Saturday, the last day of the Budget session of Parliament. Senior BJP leader Satyapal Singh will initiate the discussion, according to a Lok Sabha Secretariat bulletin.