New Delhi [India], Sept. 27 (ANI): Union Minister Piyush Goel on Wednesday downplayed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha's comment on central government's economic policies and said under the saffron party's regime India's economy has strengthened.

Goel's statement came after Sinha, a former finance minister, hogged the limelight and started trending high on social media this morning, after he criticised his own government for sinking economy, in an article he penned for The Indian Express.

The Minister of Railways in an exclusive interview to ANI said that it is known to the entire world that the how under the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has become the fastest growing economy for three years in a row, which has probably happened for the first time in the country's history.

"Each one is entitled to his own understanding of the situation. The reality is India's economy is today a strong economy. What we inherited in 2014 was a period of near double digit inflation. Very high fiscal deficit, very high current account deficit, almost touching 5 percent and in some sense there was policing paralysis due to which the entire economy was not having a clear vision where it was headed," Goel told ANI.

Goel further said that his government has brought some landmark reforms in past three years, which is unprecedented.

"We have set everything right in last three years in combined efforts of all the regulators and the central government and are growing forward. I think this will become the strength of the Indian economy," he said.

Earlier Sinha in his article, titled 'I need to speak up now', Sinha said that demonetisation proved to be an "unmitigated economic disaster" and that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was a "badly conceived and poorly implemented" havoc.

He introduced the strongly-worded article, saying, "I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister has made of the economy."

Sinha further said that the economy is on a downward spiral and many in the BJP do not dare to speak up against it out of fear, adding, "Arun Jaitley is considered to be the best and the brightest in this government. It was a foregone conclusion before the 2014 elections that he would be the finance minister in the new government."

Sinha further took on BJP president Amit Shah for citing 'technical' reasons for slowdown in the GDP rate and wrote, "Even the SBI, the largest public sector bank of the country, has stated with unusual frankness that the slowdown is not transient or "technical", it is here to stay and the slowdown in demand has only aggravated the situation. It has openly contradicted what the BJP president said just a few days ago that the slowdown in the last quarter was on account of "technical" reasons and will be corrected soon."

In his article, Sinha also took a jibe at raids conducted by Income Tax department, Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation and said that it has become "a new game to instill fear in the minds of people," adding, "We protested against raid raj when we were in opposition. Today it has become the order of the day."

He also ridiculed the "massive" loan waivers given to the farmers "varying from one paise to a few rupees."

Sinha concluded his article by saying, "The Prime Minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters." (ANI)


This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI