Centre’s policies led to economic crisis: KTR

Hyderabad: TRS working president and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Thursday came out all guns blazing against the Central government stating that no amount of spin and sophistry by union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman can conceal the BJP government’s failed economic policies, its empty promises and facts that have had a disastrous impact on […]

Hyderabad: TRS working president and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Thursday came out all guns blazing against the Central government stating that no amount of spin and sophistry by union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman can conceal the BJP government’s failed economic policies, its empty promises and facts that have had a disastrous impact on the country’s economy.

“Lack of foresight, inability to foresee adversities, ill-conceived policy interventions and crony capitalism favouring a few big corporate houses have become the hallmark of this NPA (Non-Performing Alliance as against National Democratic Alliance) government. To divert the attention of the public from the pressing day-to-day issues, the Narendra Modi regime is resorting to divide and rule tactics besides unleashing Central government agencies on people and parties for questioning their policies,” Rama Rao said, adding that instead of excuses and self-adulation, the Centre should focus on taming inflation and initiate measures to alleviate the pain of the common man.

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In a statement, the TRS working president launched a blistering attack against the Central government for its flawed policies and termed the union Finance Minister’s statement in Parliament during a debate on the Indian economy as a crude joke on millions of Indians who were suffering due to mismanagement of the economy by the ‘NPA’ government.

Stating that the lopsided economic policies of the BJP government resulted in an unprecedented economic crisis seen for the first time since Independence, he said the country was witnessing massive job losses and systematic erosion of incomes. “Nirmala Sitharaman’s words about inflation and its impact on the common man are completely devoid of truth. The very fact she claims that GST collections had increased indicates the indifference of the Modi regime towards people’s suffering,” he added.

Rama Rao said the Central government cannot escape from undeniable facts that include an all-time low slump of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, the highest inflation rate in 30 years and the highest unemployment rate in 45 years among others. “From democracy and press freedom to income inequality and corruption, irrespective of the topic index, India is performing miserably on global development indices of all kinds,” he said.

He said the constant rise in prices of essential commodities was hurting the common man which indicates the deep mess that the BJP-led Central government had pushed the country’s economy into. “Due to the flawed policies of the Central government, several eminent economists are quitting government posts,” he added.

Describing the demonetisation exercise as a colossal failure, the Minister pointed out that while the Modi government bluffed that Rs 3-4 lakh crore of black money will be wiped out, and almost an entire quantity of demonetised currency came back to the Reserve Bank of India. Further, the cash in circulation increased from 18 lakh crore in November 2016 to 31 lakh crore in March 2022.

He said the GST was another hastily implemented economic reform which too failed spectacularly. Citizens were put to hardships owing to meaningless tax structures on essential goods, States were being robbed of their legitimate tax revenues, and industry was penalised and terrorised by the Central government agencies. “From hospital beds to health insurance to funeral services, Modi’s regime has not spared anything and anyone from GST.

Modi has the dubious distinction of being the first Prime Minister to levy GST even on the handloom,” he said. Rama Rao stated that the total contribution to the Central exchequer by way of taxes on petroleum products had increased by 2.5 times against the State exchequer since 2014. He attributed this to a multi-fold increase in Central taxes and cess on petrol and diesel.

“Such high taxes have had a devastating impact on the industry and also on the citizens of this country. High fuel taxes directly contributed to the rising inflation,” he opined. The TRS working president accused the BJP of blaming Covid and the Russia-Ukraine war through its propaganda machinery for the price rise and to cover up economic mismanagement.

But the fact that there were eight consecutive quarters of economic slowdown even before the Covid and the subsequent lockdown prove otherwise. “The NPA government may get away in GST council and Parliament using brute force but the people of the country will never forget the pain caused by their erroneous economic policies,” he said.