India's Finance Minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitaraman recently made a scathing remark in New York about the performances of public sector banks under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh and Raghuram Rajan. Former PM Manmohan Singh, the fellow architect of a liberalised Indian Economy along with former PM Late Narasimha Rao Ji, is probably the only Indian politician who has the moral wherewithal to criticise Modi Government’s bad show on the economic front. The current NDA government has shown a marked proclivity towards laying the blame for the sliding economy at the doorsteps of the UPA government. Dr. Singh whose credentials as an economist remain above-board has rightly tossed the ball back into Centre’s court. How much longer can the government keep on blaming its predecessors for these people’s follies?Instead, the Minister should clarify why the position of public banks further worsened in the last five years under this government ‘s tenure? We have all seen Manmohan Singh successfully piloted the country out of debt and paved the way towards economic liberalisation with the unstinted support of the then PM, PV Ji. The current government should either acquire professionalism or seek the advice of intellectuals to resolve festering issues such as economic slowdown, growing unemployment, and bad loans, etc instead of indulging in mudslinging against its political opponents. What is most urgently required is to lift the economy from the present crisis. The situation only deteriorated in the Modidom. In the whole blame game between the ruling and opposition, it’s the people who are at the receiving end. Mr. MMS is right in exclaiming that the Modi government must stop playing the blame game for every economic crisis, as six years are enough to come out with solutions. The Modi dispensation would do well to take up the challenge of reining in the economic slowdown on its own instead of pointing an accusing finger at others. The present government needs to rise above petty politics and seek advice from Dr. MMS to nurse our ailing economy back to life.
