PM’s I-day address ‘most disappointing’, fight against black money a ‘sham’, says Congress

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day address as “most disappointing”, the Congress said it was time for him to give an account of his “failures”, especially the “betrayal of youth, farmers and the weaker sections”. The key Opposition party also described Modi’s fight against corruption and black money as a “sham”.

“Let us not forget that the Prime Minister had promised to create two crore jobs every year. Now he is not talking about employment. India is losing jobs not in lakhs but in millions…which has created a very difficult situation for the poor and vulnerable sections,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said at a media briefing.

Terming Modi’s fight against black money as a “sham”, the Congress leader said the NDA government has “promoted black money hoarding and crony capitalism,” and questioned why the government had not given any account of how much black money had come back in RBI vaults.

“Until the 31st of March, every week an account was given as to how much money has come back. Almost 98 per cent of currency in circulation that was scrapped returned to the RBI and after that the RBI has gone silent. And now they say they are still counting,” he said, adding that that was because the “the moment the exact figure is given, the Prime Minister’s claims will be fully punctured.”

On the fight against corruption, the Congress also questioned why, in three years, the Lok Pal has not been appointed.

Accusing the Prime Minister of “seeking to take credit for the Goods and Services Tax (GST)”, Sharma said: “For seven years, GST could not be brought in by the previous (UPA) government because there was persistent opposition by the then Opposition party, the BJP.” He added that Modi should have shown “some grace and humility to acknowledge the constructive cooperation of the Opposition.”

The Congress also flayed the Prime Minister for not speaking on the rise in farmer suicides and reminded Modi of his promise to double farmers’ income but not giving even adequate support price.

“Government procurement of foodgrains has come down drastically. We were number one in rice export and number two in wheat exports. In 2014, when this government assumed office, India’s agri-commodity exports was ₹1,87,000 crore. It has come down to less than half of that,” he said.

Sharma also said that Modi is “disrespectful” to the memory of former Prime Ministers, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “who laid the foundation of modern India,” and accused the government of being “busy in promoting a personality cult of one individual.”

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