Jaitley hits back after Rahul’s ‘arhar Modi’ jibe on price rise

New Delhi, July 28

Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi after his ‘arhar Modi’ salvo, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday reeled out statistics in Lok Sabha to assert that the NDA government had brought down inflation and expressed hope that prices of essential commodities will come down further after a "good" monsoon.

Earlier, launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to control the dal prices, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said, “There is a new slogan which is now becoming popular in the villages, ‘Arhar Modi, Arhar Modi, Arhar Modi.”

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In reference to a BJP slogan 'Har Har Modi' used during the Lok Sabha polls, he said "now people are saying 'Arhar Modi'."

He said the BJP-led NDA government had a grand celebration on its second anniversary but they forgot that none of their promises have been fulfilled in the last two years.

“The Modi government celebrated its second happy birthday a few days back. While addressing the people, he spoke about Make in India, Connect India, Digital India, but he does not talk about price rise. Not once did he talk about pulses, potatoes and tomatoes,” Gandhi said in the House earlier.

“Not once has the issue of price rise been addressed by the Modi government” he added.

“Make as many empty promises as you want, but give this House a date by which prices will come down,” he said.

Recalling Modi’s speech at a poll rally in Himachal Pradesh in February 2014, Gandhi said while attacking the then UPA government over the issue, he had said 'maa-bachhe raat raat rote hain, aasoon pee ke sote hain' (Mother and child cry the whole night and sleep drinking the tears). “What a dialogue,” Gandhi said thrice, taking a dig at Modi who was not present in the House.

"I want to remind the Prime Minister of the promises he made to the people of the country during the poll campaign, which Modiji does not talk about now and has forgotten. He had also promised that when the BJP government comes to power, it will bring down the prices," Gandhi said.

'Bluster no substitute of statistics'

After Gandhi attacked the Prime Minister, Jaitley contended that the NDA government had inherited high inflation from the UPA dispensation.

“Any form of bluster is not substitute of statistics," he told the Congress vice-president while intervening in a debate on price rise and asked him to compare the status of inflation during the UPA government and that prevailing now.

Referring to Gandhi's attack on Modi for criticising the then Congress-led government over inflation in February 2014, Jaitley said, “This is a topic of statistics and not sloganeering. The UPA had left government in a serious state and it is but natural that any contesting candidate before election would say that if I come to power, I will try to bring inflation down. No one should have any objection to that."

Insisting that the Modi government had reduced inflation and kept it under control, the Finance Minister said he expects it to reduce further with a "good" monsoon.

He acknowledged that high prices of pulses is a concern and said steps are being taken to address this by narrowing the mismatch between demand and supply.

Noting that India has the highest production along with highest consumption of pulses, he said while the demand is for 23 million tonnes, the production was 17 million tonnes, leaving a gap of six million tonnes.

The output of pulses is expected to go up to 20 million tonnes this crop year, Jaitley said, adding steps are also being taken by the Food Ministry to create a buffer of 20 lakh tonnes of pulses to keep the prices under control.

He also criticised Gandhi for asking the Prime Minister to set a date by when the prices will come down, saying issues are settled through policies rather than giving dates.

The government is working on policies to encourage farmers to produce more and India is moving towards self sufficiency in pulses produce, he said.

"You are talking about a government which left behind double digit inflation and today we have a situation where steps have been taken in each sector to contain inflation. Any form of bluster is not a substitute for statistics. These are backed by hard facts," Jaitley said.

Jaitley said the monthly statistics shows the pulses inflation is coming down and asked Rahul Gandhi not to look for corruption angle in the rise of prices of pulses, which he said occurred due to rise in costs globally besides two consecutive years of drought.

"Even today the corruption scandals that emerge are those of UPAs and not NDA... We have contained inflation despite having two years of drought," Jaitley said.

He said the UPA had left the economy in a dire state, with Consumer Price Index (CPI) and food inflation at double digit, WPI inflation around 6-7 per cent and growth prospects were limited.

He cautioned UPA against indulging in "back of envelop calculations" regarding economic data stating it will only be "misleading".

Taking a jibe at Gandhi for quoting market prices of essential commodities, Jaitley said in a lighter vein, "everybody in this House seems to be claiming to go to market everyday".

He said in 2012-13 and 2013-14, which were the last two years of the UPA regime, were marked by increasing prices and inflation data looked grim.

The NDA government has brought down inflation and for 18 straight months, the country has witnessed negative WPI inflation, the Finance Minister said. — PTI