Nirmala Sitharaman smells Opposition ‘conspiracy’ to derail govt’s Viksit Bharat goal

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, July 30

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday blamed the Opposition for trying to create an “atmosphere of mistrust” in society and systematically attacking the institutions of the country. She also accused it of making efforts to divide the Army and trying to convey a message that India was not a safe destination for investors.

Army strength being challenged

Attack on the armed forces is being intensified and efforts are being made to divide the Army and soldiers. As part of a conspiracy, the strength of the Army is being challenged. Whatever is happening against the Agnipath scheme is part of this conspiracy. Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister

Replying to the week-long discussion on the Union Budget, the Finance Minister, in her 100-minute speech, expressed serious apprehension that at a time when India was marching towards achieving the goal of a developed nation (Viksit Bharat), there was a systematic conspiracy to attack the fault lines of society and the Constitutionally-backed institutions. PM Narendra Modi was not present in the Lok Sabha when the Finance Minister gave her speech. “Mistrust is being created through fallacy, lies and deceit,” she said in the Lok Sabha. Efforts of people trying to rebuild society after the coronavirus pandemic were being undermined, she said.

She attacked the Opposition for their barbs that the Budget catered mainly to the state’s ruled by NDA allies, namely Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. “I have been picking up on budgets since 2004-05. In 2004-05, 17 states were not named in the budget speech, while 16 states were not named in 2006-07. In 2009, 26 states were not named,” she said. She also took a veiled dig at former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying that the “Harvard and Oxford educated” leaders failed to contain inflation as they adopted “reckless policies”.

Without naming Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, she criticised him for looking at the traditional ‘halwa’ ceremony prior to the Budget exercise with a casteist angle, adding that if earlier Congress regimes had accepted the recommendations of Kaka Kalelkar and Mandal commissions on reservations, an OBC would have become a senior Finance Ministry official.