Arun Jaitley slams opposition parties for avoiding debate

By Raaghav G R

Posted on November 25, 2016

In the wake of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s criticism on Thursday that the demonetization scheme was being monumentally mishandled, Arun Jaitley in the Parliament Session yesterday, lashed out at the opposition parties, saying they were ‘just finding excuses’ to avoid debate in the parliament. He said, “The government position has been very clear from the day one that we are ready for the debate. The opposition parties were finding excuses to avoid discussion. Today morning they were taken by surprise when we announced that the Prime Minister will participate in the debate. Now they are inventing and manufacturing reasons to escape the debate”. PM Modi had left Rajya Sabha yesterday, after lunch. This caused a furor in the parliament with the opposition parties demanding that the PM be present till the end of the debate. Arun Jaitley also said that the PM would participate in the debate, once it has been formally initiated in the parliament. The act of the opposition parties creating a ruckus in the parliament for the trivial matter that PM Modi was not present post lunch is what Arun Jaitley termed as ‘finding excuses to avoid debate’. Read more on Dr. Manmohan’s speech

Arun Jaitley said that, “It is not shocking that Dr. Manmohan Singh was criticizing the demonetization move as the ‘maximum amount of black money’ was generated during his regime from 2009 to 2014”. Arun Jaitley also disagreed with Dr. Manmohan Singh’s comment that the Indian GDP would drop by 2% this quarter. He said that there will be a marked improvement in the Indian GDP in the medium to long term, once the black money from the ‘parallel black economy’ found its way into the ‘mainstream economy’. “Those who did not consider the generation of so much black money and scams during their regime as blunder are now finding the crusade against black money as blunder”, Arun Jaitley said. Lastly Arun Jaitley said that the opposition parties ‘had no right’ to criticize the demonetization move as the maximum amount of black money was generated in scams such 2G and Coal Gate, during their regime. He further added that the cash crunch the rural banks were still facing was being addressed, with the government of India having already dispensed Rs. 21,000 crores to NABARD to give as loans to farmers who wanted to sow the winter crop.

Hearing the charges of the opposition and the explanation given by BJP ministers, one cannot help but take the side of the BJP in the demonetization move because the opposition parties have made highly irresponsible and senseless charges so far. First they (especially Mamta Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi) said that the public should have been alerted beforehand about the demonetization move. As Arun Jaitley said on 12/11/2016, this would have ruined the purpose and effectiveness of the move. Then they criticized the serpentine queues outside of ATMs and banks once the move was announced, saying it caused delays and frustration to the common man. While this was true, the situation now is that queues outside of ATMs and banks have considerably reduced and life is almost back to normal in cities and towns. Then the opposition criticized that rural banks were still facing a cash crunch and that fifty days was too much for them and the common man to wait to get the new currency notes and “could prove disastrous for the Indian economy”. This issue too has been addressed with the government of India having already dispatched Rs. 21,000 crores to NABARD, to give as loans to farmers who want to sow the winter crop. When the winter session of the parliament began on Monday (21/11/2016), the opposition parties demanded that the PM take part in the debate in the parliament and created a ruckus, because of which the houses of the parliament had to be adjourned twice. The BJP had surprised its opposition parties yesterday when PM Modi took part in the debate in Rajya Sabha. The opposition parties again created a furor in the parliament when PM Modi was absent post lunch and insisted that he stay till the debate ended. To this Arun Jaitley replied that the PM would be present full time for the debate once it was formally initiated in the parliament. Lastly Dr. Manmohan Singh had said that the GDP growth rate of India would decline by 2%, because of the demonetization move, to which Arun Jaitley replied that the Indian economy and the GDP would grow substantially once the black money from the parallel black economy found its way into the main stream economy. BJP is also taking steps to curb black property, through its proposed E – Property Passport Book (EPPB) scheme, something which the opposition parties criticized could not be done through the demonetization scheme. To conclude, I would say that since the BJP’s cause is full of reason and good motive, please support PM Modi on demonetization move and vote him to power again in the 2019 elections. Jai Hind! Read more on Startup News

Arun Jaitley slams opposition parties for avoiding debate