Shatrughan Sinha agrees with Yashwant Sinha that GST, note ban 'have hurt India'

NEW DELHI: BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday tweeted that not only does party colleague Yashwant Sinha have a right to criticise the government's economic policy, he's also accurate in saying India has suffered because of the note ban and demonetisation.

"He has shown the mirror on the economic condition of India and has hit the nail right on the head," tweeted Shatrughan, a former Bollywood star.

Shatrughan said that Yashwant's comments were in the national interest and added that the powers-that-be would do well to heed the former finance minister's criticism. He also called Yashwant a "true statesman" and one of the "best & most successful" finance ministers India has had.

Yashwant wrote a column in a leading daily yesterday criticising PM Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley for what he believes are flawed economic policies that have dragged down growth. He said that demonetisation was "an unmitigated economic disaster" and the Goods and Services Tax rollout was "badly conceived and poorly implemented".

Shatrughan called Yashwant "our elder brother" and said he must be "appreciated and applauded" for airing his views. He quoted PM Modi saying recently that "the nation is bigger than the party" and added that Yashwant's critique should be taken in that spirit.



The opening sentence of Yashwant's column was: "I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister (Jaitley) has made of the economy."

Another good reason to take Yashwant's comments seriously is because he is "a tried & tested man of wisdom", said Shatrughan.



Shatrughan also rejected accusations that Yashwant was being "opportunistic" or "angling for a ministerial berth", saying that his colleague has no special interest.



Yashwant's column ended with an acidic statement.

"The Prime Minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters," wrote Yashwant.

To be sure, several Opposition parties latched on to Yashwant's comments to take pot shots at the BJP government.

The BJP, meanwhile, rejected Yashwant's criticism.

In fact, Yashwant's son, Union minister Jayant Sinha, also rebutted the criticism. He said "conclusions drawn from a narrow set of facts simply missed the fundamental structural reforms transforming the economy."