“This is a dangerous slide and I wish the country wakes up to what these guys are up to” : Congress
The former Union Finance minister P Chidambaram and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi addressing a press conference yesterday and attacking the BJP led government said all the assets will go to “only three or four people”, as these are the “sectors those three or four people are interested in”. Rahul said, “This entire privatization is designed to create monopolies. The whole idea behind this is to create monopolies for three or four people…. The Prime Minister insists on building two or three monopolies that own everything in this country.”
Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over the monetization plan, Mr. Gandhi said “only a few businesses will be left” as a result of it and that employment opportunities would decline.
“To me, this is a huge tragedy; it is something every patriotic person and every nationalistic person should oppose,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi further said that the BJP claims that no development took place in the country during the last 70 years but whatever assets created during these years are being sold by the BJP government “Everybody knows who this is going to. There is no confusion.”
“I want to tell the youth what the country is selling and which asset is going to whom,” the Congress General Secretary said, listing out the various infrastructure areas that will be monetized according to him.
The Rs 6 lakh crore monetization plan that was unveiled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently aimed at “unlocking value” by involving private companies across infrastructure sectors. Up to 25 airports, 40 railway stations, and 15 railway stadiums, among other installations, have been identified to get private investments.
Citing examples like assets in “railways, ₹ 1.5 lakh crore”, Mr. Gandhi warned the sector’s employees about what such a move potentially means for them.
Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram addressing the conference said that the exercise will be co-terminus with the Rs 100 lakh crore national infrastructure pipeline announced by the Prime Minister. “You are collecting Rs 6 lakh crore in four years to build a Rs 100-lakh crore infrastructure. What arithmetic is this?… I know there are many magicians in this country but I can’t imagine a greater magician than this government. I think this is a scandal. People must begin to discuss it, debate it…”
“This is a dangerous slide and I wish the country wakes up to what these guys are up to,” he added.
P Chidambaram said there had been no criteria or goals for such a big exercise, he alleged that the National Monetisation Plan was hatched in NITI Ayog and had no criteria or goal.
Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor also tweeted and expressed his view by saying that the BJP at least now must acknowledge what the Congress government did over the years.
