'Granary Of Concoctions, Mountain Of Lies': Congress Slams Govt's 'White Paper' On Economy

Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram derided the document as a "hatchet job," emphasising that it lacks the academic rigor and scholarly approach one would expect.

File Photos: P Chidambaram (L), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (C) & Jairam Ramesh (R)

Source : PTI Images

The Congress party on Friday lambasted the economic white paper released by the Modi government, dismissing it as a "white lie paper" and asserting that the focus should have been on critical issues such as unemployment, border tensions, and the situation in Manipur.

The government's white paper criticises the Congress-led UPA rule, blaming it for transforming the Indian economy into a non-performing entity through indiscriminate revenue expenditure, off-budget borrowings, and a mounting pile of bad debts in banks.

Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram derided the document as a "hatchet job," emphasising that it lacks the academic rigor and scholarly approach one would expect. He stated, "It is a political exercise intended to damn the previous government and hide the present government’s broken promises, monumental failures, and betrayal of the poor". 

Congress MP & former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram issued statement - "The White Paper put out by the government is a hatchet job. It is a white-lie paper. Even the authors will not claim that it is an academic, well-researched or scholarly paper. It is a political… pic.twitter.com/sLunwQglWf

— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2024

Chidambaram further questioned the arbitrary choice of the time frame, starting in 2004 and abruptly ending in 2014, for the assessment, highlighting that a fair evaluation should consider a broader period.

"The paper released today is not a white paper; it is a paper that is intended to whitewash the many sins and commissions of the NDA government in the last 10 years," he remarked.

Statement to the Media on the White Paper. pic.twitter.com/dBOAjhFITz

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 9, 2024

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh echoed Chidambaram's sentiments, asserting that the government's white paper overlooked crucial issues such as demonetisation, unemployment, inflation, and growing economic disparity. Ramesh criticised the government's silence on matters like the border situation with China and tensions in Manipur, issues for which the Congress has been demanding white papers.

#WATCH | On 'White paper' brought by BJP in the parliament, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh says, "Surgical strike was mentioned in the white paper, but not demonetisation, unemployment, inflation, and the rising economic disparity. The issues that should be addressed in the white… pic.twitter.com/CYqIvsmUJY

— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2024

"We had earlier asked for a white paper on demonetisation, but they were silent on that also. There is no white paper on the 45-year high unemployment in the country... The white paper is yet another event. He (Modi) is an event manager as (L K) Advani ji had said," Ramesh stated.

Ramesh accused the government of being "silent" on corruption and neglecting real issues affecting farmers, women, and youth. He alleged the privatisation of public sector units (PSUs) and critical infrastructure like ports, airports, railways, factories, and oil refineries.

VIDEO | Here is what Congress leader Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) said on 'White Paper'.

"White Paper should have been brought on issues like border situation with China, what is happening in Manipur since last 9 months, demonetisation, but they are silent over these. This… pic.twitter.com/Dr5VcAgXWT

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 9, 2024

The Congress had previously criticised the government's white paper, asserting that it aimed to hide "the dark truth" and highlighting issues such as hunger, price rise, unemployment, and poverty as lived realities for a significant majority of Indians under the Modi government.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury joined the criticism, calling the white paper a "granary of concoctions and a mountain of lies". He viewed the document as an electoral manifesto designed to score political points rather than a genuine effort to provide an unbiased comparison of the UPA and NDA regimes, as reported by PTI. 

Chowdhury accused the BJP of engaging in the "politics of appropriation, politics of corruption, and politics of narcissism".

According to PTI, he urged the government to appreciate the achievements of the UPA regime and refrain from abusing predecessors. He emphasized the need for governments to build upon past successes and work towards improving the well-being of the citizens.

In the ongoing debate on the white paper, several opposition leaders expressed skepticism about its intentions and called for its disapproval. N K Premachandran (RSP) appealed to the House to reject the white paper, asserting that the NDA government has devastated the country's economy and raised questions about the document's bona fide intentions.