Swamy spin on Modi narrative: ‘Core eco sectors are not performing’

In gunning for Arvind Subramanian, the BJP MP is scoring a lot of self-goals for the government

GN Bureau | June 22, 2016


#Economy   #BJP   #Narendra Modi   #Arvind Subramanian   #Raghuram Rajan   #Subramanian Swamy   #Politics   #Bureaucracy  


With friends like this, Narendra Modi does not need enemies.

Subramanian Swamy has tasted success and he is continuing his nation-building mission with all the more zeal.

He made sure that India should not have somebody like Raghuram Rajan managing its money, though he apparently has no problem with the qualification of the likes of Gajendra Chauhan, Pahlaj Nihalani and Chetan Chauhan running their respective offices. On Wednesday, he found somebody else who must follow Rajan: right from early morning, he targeted another foreign-education economist in the government setup, Arvind Subramanian.

And the chief economic advisor (CEA) will not be the last of his targets. In an interview to ANI, Swamy has said he has a list of 27 bureaucrats who are loyal to the Congress.

But in making his case against the CEA, Swamy brought only further embarrassment for the government. Among his tweets:


The claim that our core economic sectors have performed well during the last two years, that is, since Narendra Modi became prime minister, is novel, coming from within the ruling establishment that is trying for the past couple of weeks to paint a far rosier picture of the Indian economy.

His campaign against Arvind Subramanian began with this tweet:

Modi’s chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian had opposed India on IPR till recently [followed by a news item to that effect from the Times of India]

The next allegation was:



Further on:


As ‘Swamy guns for Subramanian’ became a major news story, finance minister Arun Jaitley was forced to comment that the government had full confidence in the CEA. [Incidentally, no such clarification was made when Swamy was targeting Rajan.]

Swamy was selective in responding to the hundreds of comments and retweets after his remarks, but he chose to highlight one tweet that said, “this joker CEA also wrote oped against Gujarat model and talked nonsense about beef ban when it is not even required.”

Then, Swamy resumed his commentary with three more tweets:

 


Congress leader Digvijaya Singh was among those who reacted. He tweeted:


But he was rebuffed by a Swamy fan who responded:

@Swamy39 ji may gun for you too @digvijaya_28 so beware !! Enjoy honeymoon rather than advising Govt.

And Swamy happily retweeted this comment.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

 

Other News

Repo rate cut by 25 basis points to 6.25%

The Reserve Bank of India has, for the first time in five years, reduced the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 6.25% with immediate effect. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate will stand adjusted to 6.00% and the marginal

Amitav Ghosh’s new work: Connections between the word and the world

Wild Fictions: Essays By Amitav Ghosh HarperCollins, 496 pages, Rs 799.00 Amitav Ghosh, one of a handful of Ind

How markets can help (and also hinder) fight against pollution

In the annals of environmental policy, few ideas have been as transformative as the Emissions Trading System (ETS). Born from the minds of economists in the late 1960s, this market-based approach to pollution control has evolved from a theoretical concept to a global tool in the fight against climate chang

Will Bihar complement the resolution of Viksit Bharat 2047?

As India completes its diamond jubilee as a republic, I am reminded of a statement by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, delivered during an address to the Bihar Chamber of Commerce in Patna on March 28, 2006. He said, “I have visited Bihar numerous times, and it has always been a source of happiness for me to

All you wanted to know about Budget: Key Highlights

Here are the key highlights of the proposal of the Union Budget presented in parliament by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Satuday: NO INCOME TAX ON AVERAGE MONTHLY INCOME OF UPTO RS 1 LAKH; TO BOOST MIDDLE CLASS HOUSEHOLD SAVINGS & CONSUMPTION BENEFITTING

Four engines of development: Agriculture, MSME, investment & exports

Union minister of finance and corporate affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025-26 in Parliament on Saturday. Here is the summary of her budget speech, Part A: Quoting Telugu poet and playwright Shri Gurajada Appa Rao’s famous saying, ‘A country is not just its

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now



Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter