Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that the fundamentals of the economy are strong and accused the Opposition of spreading ‘pessimism’ about the economy and “rumours and canards” about the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)/National Population Register (NPR) exercise. He said there was no cause for despondence over the economy and its inherent capacity for growth with the Government’s fresh thrust on infrastructure, MSMEs, boost in domestic manufacturing through Make in India and rural sector.

Replying to the motion of thanks to the President’s address in both the Houses, the PM said the aspirational target of doubling the size of the economy to $5-trillion is achievable.

Thinking big

“Pessimism and gloom do not help us. We talk about a $5-trillion economy. Yes, the aim is ambitious, but we have to think big and think ahead,” he said.

Besides the push on infrastructure and manufacturing, the PM cited simplification in the tax compliance structure as a positive measure towards spurring investment through ease of doing business. He said frequent changes in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which, from July 2017, amalgamated 17 different central and State taxes are reflective of “federal dynamism” and the Government’s willingness to change.

“We do not believe we are the repository of all wisdom. We do not think we have all the wisdom in the world. If a central tax is amalgamating a number of other taxes, naturally we are open to suggestions from the States,” said the PM, hurling a query at the Opposition benches where former PM Manmohan Singh was also sitting, “If you are so knowledgeable, why did you not roll out the GST?”

When the Congress MPs responded by saying that it was he who, as Gujarat Chief Minister, had blocked the passage of the GST in the UPA’s tenure, the PM said, “I had apprised the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee of my reservations about the GST. Manufacturing States such as Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra naturally have more concerns over the GST. The concerns that I raised as CM, I addressed them as PM.”

NPR not new

Citing Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and BR Ambedkar, the PM combated the criticism and nation-wide protests over the CAA and NPR and said these are continuation of previous policies but “rumours and canards are being spread about them because of politics of vote-bank and appeasement” by the Opposition. “You are spreading rumours. You brought NPR in 2010. Why are you lying? Why are you fooling people now,” asked the PM.

Modi said Nehru had wanted Indian citizenship for religious minorities from Pakistan as he hit out at the Congress while defending the amended citizenship law. He said the first Prime Minister of India (Jawaharlal Nehru) wrote to the first Chief Minister of Assam (Gopinath Bordoloi), saying there was a need to differentiate between Hindu refugees and Muslim migrants.

He said Nehru had wanted to defend minorities in then West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). “Was he (Nehru) communal, did he want to create a Hindu Rashtra...I want to ask the Congress,” Modi said.

In the Lok Sabha, the PM was scathing towards former Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Modi quoted Rahul as saying that he will be “beaten with sticks”. “I will do more Surya Namaskars to bear your beatings. Let us see,” said Modi, spurring Rahul into quoting the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur who was recently censured by the Election Commission for chanting inflammatory slogans” against the anti-CAA protestors. “Why don’t you fire at us,” Rahul was heard as saying. To this, the PM quipped, “I have been talking for a long time. But the current has taken this long to reach there. Some people are like tubelights.”

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