The BJP on Wednesday claimed that it had “cleansed” the economy and the banking system overloaded with bad loans during years the 10 years of UPA rule. At a press conference in the BJP headquarters, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the ruling party worked on “long-term and sustainable” methods which may have seemed harsh in the short -term but are set to yield dividends in the future.

He said the Opposition is spreading falsehood on the management of economy. “You can’t mislead people on falsehood. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked for Swachh Bharat, not just on the streets but on the economic front as well,” Goyal told reporters here on Wednesday. He said when the Narendra Modi government took over, the BJP thought it should bring out a white paper and tell people how badly the banks were doing, how fragile the country’s economy was. “If we had done it then, it would have been difficult to attract foreign investment and improve economy. We instead worked on sustainable solutions which improved the economy,” Goyal said.

Citing a note prepared by Raghuram Rajan to the Estimates Committee, he said from 2006-08 till 2013-14, loans were distributed without any assessment “When we came in, stressed account were shown as evergreen and banks were shown as clean. We cleansed the system in 2015 and now economists agree that we needed to clean up the system,” he said.

Indian Bank

Indian Bank was in a fragile state 15 years ago. “At that time, Atal Bihari Vajpayee government did the same , all loans were declared NPA, pending issues were resolved, companies that needed to be sold were sold and because of that, between 2008-14, they refused to give bad loans. That is why Indian Bank is in good shape,” he added.

Goyal said it is now clear that the BJP government cleaned up the system. “We either declare NPAs or declare them bankrupt. The reality is that project loan was less but it was given to those who could not pay,,” Goyal said.

The Union Minister said, throughout Congress rule, people took loans without accountability. “But now Modi has shown that there will be accountability and harsh steps on bad loans recovery.We have passed the Fugitive Offenders Bill. One promoter has been jailed. This is the first government which has acted against big defaulters and put premium on honesty,” he said.

Goyal said the Benami Property Act was also passed by the Centre. “This is the first government which has passed GST. There was 10 per cent inflation, we have an average 4 per cent.

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