CHENNAI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the NDA government at the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought fundamental changes to governance through its development schemes. Speaking at the book launch for ‘Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery’ held in Chennai, Sitharaman said India is on a progressive path and even as several developed countries face the threat of recession, the nation’s growth is pegged at 7.2%. She also said the PM, who interacts with the people at the grassroots level, knows their mindset and introduces schemes for their welfare.
“Several leaders were opposing schemes like the Jan Dhan Yojana, asking how it is possible to deposit funds. Today, there’s a balance of Rs 1.60 lakh crore in the accounts opened under the scheme,” Sitharaman said. She also flayed a senior political leader from TN for often criticising the scheme. “He talks in English and says it is not possible to deposit funds into those accounts. We have a deposit of Rs 1.60 lakh crore in those accounts sir. What you want to say now?” she asked without naming anyone.“The book Modi@20 will talk about his 12.5 years as CM and 7.5 years as PM,” she said.
“During the pandemic period, we did not have a proper vaccine and proper solutions. We imposed a lockdown. The economy went down. However, we tackled the situation and produced vaccines. We have reached 200-crore vaccination mark. India has 40% of the world’s digital payment market,” she said.
BJP State president K Annamalai presided over the book launch and said he planned to translate the book into Tamil. It would be published soon, he said.