New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that Indian economy was in bad shape when the erstwhile Congress-led UPA was voted out of power in 2014 but his government did not play politics over it even as that would have been “politically advantageous”. “…the decay in the Indian economy were unbelievable. It had the potential to cause a crisis all over,” Mr Modi told magazine ‘Swarajya’ in an interview.
He said when all of this came to light, the BJP-led government and his party had two options – either to be driven by ‘Rajneeti (political considerations)’ or be guided by ‘Rashtraneeti (putting the interests of India first)’.
“Rajneeti, or playing politics on the state of the economy in 2014, would have been extremely simple as well as politically advantageous for us. We had just won a historic election, so obviously the frenzy was at a different level,” he said adding on the other hand his government decided to stick to ‘Rashtraneeti’ and work for ‘reforms’.
Prime Minister said: “In 2014, industry was leaving India. India was in the Fragile five. Experts believed that the ‘I’ in BRICS would collapse. Public sentiment was that of disappointment and pessimism” — and maintained that this is why his government did not bring out a White Paper on economy.
“Instead of being a mollifier, it would be a multiplier of the distress,” Prime Minister said.He goes to the extent of stating that , “There were several landmines laid in various sectors. We accepted this uncomfortable truth and hit the ground running from the very first day to stabilise things so that the Indian economy can be strengthened for the long haul”.
He said in this context, his party and the government “tolerated” a number of political allegations.”…..we accepted political damage but ensured no damage to our country,” Mr Modi said.
Prime Minister claimed that the positive results of the approach are for everyone to see. “Today, India is the fastest growing large economy of the world with strong fundamentals to propel further growth. Foreign investment is at an all-time high, GST has revolutionised the tax regime,” he said and also added that: India is now an “easier place to do business than ever before”.
Answering questions on Jammu and Kashmir, he said the government’s internal security strategy is showing results in the Maoist-affected areas.
In Jammu and Kashmir, he said now that Governor’s Rule has been imposed, the focus will be on “good governance, development, and accountability”.
