Arun Jaitley takes on Rahul Gandhi, writes ‘How much does he know – when will he know’

Hours after Congress vice president slammed Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha over a host of issues, BJP leader and Union Finance Minister​ Arun Jaitley took on Rahul Gandhi writing a scathing blog on Facebook titled - ‘How much does he know – when will he know’.

Taking on the Congress leader for criticizing Prime Minister Modi, Jaitley said that the PM not only 'works hard and involves himself in the functioning of the various departments of the government, but inspires his team to work harder than we would have normally'.

Jaitley added that after hearing Rahul he felt that India had made the right choice between 'the Prime Minister who leads the government and a Prime Minister who is merely implementing decisions taken elsewhere'.

The FM also said, "Shri Rahul Gandhi’s views are shaped by the environment of a political party which has evolved into a ‘crowd around a family’."

The Congress vice president, shri Rahul Gandhi, has claimed that the Prime Minister hardly consults his senior ministers. If shri Rahul Gandhi is to be believed, then smt Sushma Swaraj is not consulted on the Pakistan policy, shri Rajnath Singh was unware of the Nagaland accord and, presumably, I am unware of the Budget proposals.

As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity. The more I hear shri Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering “how much does he know – when will he know”.

The Prime Minister should be the natural leader of the party and the government. In the NDA it is so. The UPA was quite different. The Prime Minister is to lead by example. The present Prime Minister not only works hard and involves himself in the functioning of the various departments of the government, but inspires his team to work harder than we would have normally. Each one of us, whether the External Affairs Minister, Home Minister or myself, are responsible for each important decision taken by each of one departments. We do not by-pass the Prime Minister who is always available for consultation and guidance. After hearing shri Rahul Gandhi, I think India has made the right choice between the Prime Minister who leads the Government and a Prime Minister who is merely implementing decisions taken elsewhere.

Shri Rahul Gandhi’s views are shaped by the environment of a political party which has evolved into a ‘crowd around a family’. The UPA model of governance was that if a person outside the family is the Prime Minister, he should be reduced to being a figure-head. Given a choice between a ‘hands-on’ Prime Minister or a ‘nominal’ head, I would unhesitatingly choose the former.

Rahul today launched a scathing attack on PM Modi and his government over the "fair and lovely" scheme on black money and the raging trouble in JNU and Hyderabad University.

In acerbic remarks on Modi's style of functioning, the Congress VP accused him of not listening to anyone's opinion including that of his ministers and MPs.

"You have been taught by your teachers in the RSS that there is one truth in the universe - your own and nobody else's opinion matters," he told the treasury benches while speaking on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha.

"The Prime Minister cannot run the country with his opinion alone.  The country is not PM and PM is not the country," he said in a 40-minute speech during which Modi was absent.

Attacking the scheme on black money announced in the budget on Monday, Gandhi said, "Nobody who has black money will be jailed under Modi's 'Fair and Lovely' scheme.  All those who have black money can make it white under this scheme," as per PTI.

Recalling Modi's promise of putting people with black money behind bars, the Congress leader said the government had instead come up with a way to help such people.

He was referring to the one-time four-month compliance window announced by Jaitley under which people with domestic black money can come clean by paying 45 percent tax and penalty and get immunity from prosecution.

Gandhi was sharply critical of the government over the turmoil in Delhi's JNU and maintained that student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been charged with sedition, had not uttered a single word against the law but was behind bars while the "real culprits" were roaming free.

Questioning Modi's silence over the JNU episode, Gandhi said that he had not uttered a single word when teachers and the media were attacked in the Patiala House court complex in the capital when Kumar was brought there for a hearing. "Which religion teaches to assault teachers," he asked.

Gandhi said that 60 per cent of students in JNU belonged to dalits, minorities and OBCs.  40 per cent of them came from a poor background.

"Why are you after the JNU? Because dalits and adivasis study there and you don't want them to grow. But we will not let this happen. We cannot crush the JNU," he asserted in the course of his speech interrupted by the ruling NDA members.

Referring to the suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in the Hyderabad Central University, Gandhi said that the PM had not bothered to call his mother.

He also attacked Modi's Pakistan policy and accused him of releasing  that country from a "small cage" in which the UPA government had put it through its diplomacy by suddenly visiting Lahore to have tea with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

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India signals possible deficit revisions in Budget 2016

 India should review its mid-term fiscal strategy, the Economic Survey urged on Friday, in a possible indication that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may have to borrow more to raise pay for government employees and bail out banks.

The report called India "a haven of stability" in a gloomy international landscape but, as Group of 20 finance ministers gathered for talks in Shanghai, warned too of possible currency turmoil in Asia after China's recent devaluation.

The Economic Survey, which sets the scene for Jaitley's third budget on Monday, forecast the Indian economy would grow by between 7.0% and 7.75% in the 2016/17 fiscal year that starts on April 1.

That would be in line with this year's expected out turn of 7.6% but below earlier expectations that growth would accelerate to over 8%.

Although Asia's third-largest economy has overtaken China's as the world's fastest-growing, weak business investment and a growing bad loan problem will compel Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep the spending taps open to deliver on his promise of jobs for India's 1.3 billion people.

Modi needs to cover the estimated $16 billion annual expense of a once-in-a-decade pay and pension hike for federal employees.

The report also put the total cost of recapitalising banks at $26 billion in the coming years.

The government will stick to its budget deficit target of 3.9% of gross domestic product in the year now drawing to a close, but the coming year will be "challenging" from a fiscal point of view.

The report, written by economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, said that "credibility and optimality" argued in favour of sticking to next year's deficit target of 3.5% of GDP - phrasing that left room for an upward revision.

"The time is right for a review of the medium-term fiscal framework," the text, handed out in Parliament, said.

Analysts said Subramanian was flagging some backsliding on the deficit - if not next year then the year after - to account for an economy that is doing less well than the headline figures suggest.

"My sense is that there is a 20-30 basis points slippage coming in the fiscal deficit number, so basically I'm expecting a 3.7 or 3.8% fiscal deficit number for 2017," said Ritika Mankar Mukherjee, senior economist at Ambit Capital.

Subramanian's cautious advice to raise the deficit has been rejected by central bank governor Raghuram Rajan, who argues that India should keep its powder dry in case the weakening world economy tips into recession.

Indian bonds, shares and the rupee gained on a view that the government was at least not throwing fiscal caution to the winds.

PAY HIKES

Raising pay for 10 million federal employees would not destabilise prices, the report said, while low inflation has taken hold, leaving room for the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rates further if needed.

Inflation is expected to decline to a range of 4.5% to 5.0% in the 2016/17 fiscal year, within the RBI's target, while the current account deficit would stay low at 1.0% to 1.5% of gross domestic product.

With the government tapped out on the spending side, there will be scant cash for capital projects through which it can achieve the growth rates of 8-10% needed to create jobs for the 1 million Indians joining the workforce every month.

This "does not augur well for the government capex - the major support to investment today, as private investment sentiment continues to stay weak," said Rupa Rege-Nitsure, group chief economist at L&T Finance Holdings in Mumbai.

The report flagged steps to broaden India's narrow tax base, arguing that 20 percent of individuals should pay tax on their earnings compared to just 5.5% now. The easiest way to do so would be not to raise thresholds on tax breaks and to review and phase out such exemptions.

India needs to gird itself for the possibility of turmoil on international currency markets and contend with "an unusually weak external environment".

"India must plan for a major currency re-adjustment in Asia in the wake of a similar adjustment in China," it cautioned.

Jaitley, making last-minute preparations for his budget address, is skipping this weekend's G20 gathering.

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Budget 2016 Live: FM Arun Jaitley tables Economic Survey 2015-16; FY16 GDP growth seen at 7.6%

"The (Indian) market has rebounded time and time again, and it is hoped that as the global financial markets settle down, India can become the leading investment destination owing to its robust macroeconomic fundamentals," as per the 2015-16 report card of the state of the economy tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament.

Ahead of the Union Budget, the Economic Survey termed external environment as challenging but projected a 7-7.5 per cent GDP growth rate in the next fiscal which could accelerate to eight per cent in a couple of years.

The Economic Survey for 2015-16, which was tabled in Parliament on Friday, also made a case for carrying forward the reform process to achieve macro-economic stability.

Inspite of challenges and lower than projected GDP growth rate during 2015-16, "the fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent of GDP seems achievable."

After a 7.2% economic growth in 2014-15, it said the expansion in economy will be 7.6% in the current fiscal, the fastest in the world.

However, it cautioned that if the world economy remained weak, India's growth will face considerable headwinds.

On the domestic side, two factors can boost consumption, increased spending from higher wages and allowances of government workers if the 7th Pay Commission is implemented and return of normal monsoon.

The survey said, Indian stocks are relatively resilient despite volatility in the worldwide financial markets and the country can become a leading investment destination going ahead.

"The (Indian) market has rebounded time and time again, and it is hoped that as the global financial markets settle down, India can become the leading investment destination owing to its robust macroeconomic fundamentals," as per the 2015-16 report card of the state of the economy tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament today.

"Despite volatility in global financial markets, the Indian equity market has been relatively resilient during this period compared to the other major emerging market economies," it added.

The Survey also said that the average borrowings by banks have increased significantly in the immediate aftermath of US fed rate hike, resulting in appreciation of the rupee.

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