Jaitley combats commentary on health with a blog attacking Opposition

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday responded to reports and comments about his health with a scathing blog targeting “ideological Left, ultra-Left” and Rahul Gandhi, whom he termed “compulsive contrarians” with a felicity for constantly “manufacturing falsehoods”.

The Finance Minister, who has had a kidney transplant preceded by a bariatric surgery during his tenure, is currently in the US sparking reports of battling another bout of ill health. Congress President Rahul Gandhi and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah offered Jaitley best wishes for “good health” on Twitter.

There was no denial or confirmation of these comments and reports. Instead, the Finance Minister dashed off a long blog from the US, titled — “The Compulsive Contrarian and his Manufactured Logic”.

Jaitley maintained that for people such as Rahul Gandhi, who believe they were “born to rule” and those who are part of the “ideological Left and the ultra-Left” stream, the election and tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a “wholly unacceptable” occurrence.

‘Born to rule’

“There are some in the political system who thought that they were born to rule. There are those who had managed to penetrate into positions of influence irrespective of the Government in power. Some who were part of the ideological left and the ultra-left obviously found the new Government wholly unacceptable. Hence emerged a new class of compulsive contrarians. The contrarians believed that this Government could do no good. Every act of it must be opposed,” said the FM.

Jaitley cited criticism and commentary on a range of policy decisions from the amendment in the Constitution to provide for 10 per cent reservation in education and public jobs to economically backward sections among the forward castes, demonetisation and the manner in which central investigating agencies have been functioning during the BJP-led NDA’s tenure, as instances of the “compulsiveness” of these so-called “contrarians” to criticise anything that the Government does.

Defends govt policies

“It compelled me to comment in the Lok Sabha that this was the first illustration in history where the Communists were obstructing a step taken to support the poor. Steps taken against black money were described as “tax terrorism.”

“The virtues of cash, which was a source of black money and fuelled corruption, were discovered after demonetisation. Aadhaar, which became an instrument for saving money to ensure that it is fruitfully spent for the poor, was questioned on the ground of violating personal liberty. Slogans which championed the breaking-up of this country into pieces was defended as free speech. The successful surgical strikes conducted by the Army were questioned either as a routine or as a dubious process,” the Finance Minister wrote.

These “compulsive contrarians could concoct arguments even if they went against the general interest of the country. They could masquerade corruption as crusade, and adopt double standards whenever it suited them,” said Jaitley citing criticism of the deal to purchase Rafale fighter jets, questioning the death of Justice B H Loya and the manner in which the central investigating agencies have been functioning.

COMMENT NOW