Attacks on me a bid to divert focus: Yashwant Sinha

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha says he is not a job applicant at 80 and had entered politics after resigning from the IAS and had rejected several lucrative assignments during his long political career. In an interview, Sinha says there is an attempt by the government to deflect attention from the issues raised by him. Excerpts

Why did you decide to attack the economic policies of the government now?

The figures for the growth rate for the first quarter of this fiscal came only recently. Then I realised the situation was indeed bad. It was critical and if corrective steps were not taken now, then things would deteriorate further.

I had asked for some time to discuss issues related to Jammu & Kashmir with the home minister and almost six-eight weeks have passed and there has been no response.

What is the message which is being conveyed to me? That we have no need for your advice and we have no time for you. The party platform was not available, so I decided to use the media to air my views.

The policies that you have criticised are policies of the Prime Minister but you have chosen to attack the finance minister.

Has the finance minister said these are not his policies and these are the policies of the prime minister? There are two things. There is no such statement and he has not disowned the policies including demonetisation. Number two, day in and day out, he defends that policy. Then what does it show? That you are entirely with his (PM's) policy. Let us see how the finance minister, finance ministry responds because he has made some personal attacks against me but he has not responded to the issues that I have raised.

Assiduously, strenuously, I worked to reduce NPAs and I had succeeded. I have some very clear ideas how the NPA problem has to be tackled.

The best remedy for NPAs is improvement in the general economy. If interest rates have to be reduced in order to deal with bank NPAs, why have they not been able to convince the RBI to reduce interest rates so far? And they make short shrift of the RBI governor as far as demonetisation is concerned and on this crucial issue of interest rates, they are not able to carry conviction with the governor? Who will believe it?

What is your reaction to the personal attack on you?

The entire purpose, after that article appeared and went viral, has been an attempt on the part of the government to shift the focus from the issues I have raised to personalities.

Jayant Sinha was fielded to write that article and defend the government on TV channels so that it becomes a fatherson duel. Then, Arun Jaitley comes out and makes personal attacks and others in that function make personal attacks so that I am forced to respond. The whole picture that emerges is father-son, Arun Jaitley and me at a personal level and the basic issues that I have raised are sidelined. I will not permit it to happen.

What is your next course of action?

I don't know. I have not worked out any course of action as such. I will continue to raise these issues of the economy.

Have you spoken to your son Jayant Sinha? Was there any pressure on him?

No. In the last few days, I haven't spoken to him. But I saw him say on TV channels that he did not write it under any pressure. Maybe he felt so concerned, so upset, to stand in support of the government.

But as I said, nothing happens in this government without a plan. So fielding him on TV channels, then Arun Jaitley making that personal attack is part of strategy, it is part of the strategy of the spin masters of this government. This is to divert attention from the basic issues that I have raised. And they have launched personal attacks on me and I am not going to fall for this trap.

Do you expect any action against you from the party?

I don't know. Nobody has spoken to me.

Why do you think people in the party are not speaking out against the slowdown?

They are scared. They are not given an opportunity. My article has launched a thousand debates. I want it to go forward. I want people of this country to discuss, debate and became aware of things.

The process of correction has to start now, we cannot lose any further time.