Former TPCC president and senior Congress leader Ponnala Lakshmaiah described the Narendra Modi government as the one that is sacrificing the country for pure personal and political aggrandizement.
Speaking to reporters here on the seven-year rule of Mr. Modi, he said the present pandemic yet again proved the farcical governance. The dictatorial and selfish politics of Mr. Modi has severely impacted the way COVID-19 was handled and this adds to the huge list of failures in the last seven years, he said.
He said the crisis was of an unimaginably huge magnitude, but it has been farcically handled with claps, lighting candles, and religious contemplation in this scientific era. The foundations of secularism are shattered, religion-based political interests are pursued and bred in the society to incite communal discord, he alleged.
Mr. Lakshmaiah said the democratic values have been completely give a go by and it’s reflected the way Congress governments in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh were toppled using political might and money bags. Party-switching for the sake of government formation, is rife where, being in the government and forming the government are the only ambitions that Modi government has nurtured.
Describing the seven-year rule as deceptive on promises made and delivered, he said - no corruption and no black money, two crore jobs every year, price reduction in all essential necessities’ - have just remained slogans with the government successfully destroying the economy.
The Congress leader said the economy that was so carefully built from the policies made by foresighted intellectuals of previous governments has been toppled and left in shambles in the last seven years.
“Development has slowed down. Even though oil prices dropped, taxes were collected manifold. Brash and thoughtless decisions like demonetisation and GST have left deep and irreversible consequences on all Indians,” he said.
On the other hand, nearly ₹68,000 crore loan amount for defaulters of big business houses has been waived and public sector undertakings have been put up for sale to be bought by private organisations of those close to the government. “All that this government has achieved is tarnishing the image of India’s reputation globally. People are observing the ineffective administration of this government,” he said.
Mr. Lakshmaiah said Congress president Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi have been warning this government’s lack of empathy, heart-less policies and direction-less governance but the government has been turning a blind eye.