Yashwant Sinha

Mumbai : The Shiv Sena challenged its ally Bharatiya Janata Party to “prove Yashwant Sinha wrong” for his stinging comments on the state of the Indian economy on Wednesday which has erupted into a major political storm, here on Thursday.

When economists like (former PM) Manmohan Singh and (ex-Finance Minister) P. Chidambaram were saying this, they were sought to be dismissed as “crazy”, and when the Sena and others questioned the government policies, they were dubbed as “traitors”, the party said in scathing edits in “Saamana” and “Dopahar Ka Saamana”.

“Their false notions have been demolished by none other than a highly experienced former BJP Finance Minister, (Yashwant) Sinha. He has made many statements, now you give evidences and prove him wrong,” the edit said, throwing a gauntlet at the BJP.

It pointed out how, during the regime of the Russian dictator Joseph Stalin, dissidents speaking out against his government disappeared overnight or were shunted to concentration camps.

“Sinha has spoken the truth. He has thrown light on many issues which have wreaked havoc, including demonetisation, the current economic crises, etc. We have to see what punishment will be meted out to him” the Sena said.

The former NDA Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had made Sinha the country’s FM and his views cannot be easily obliterated merely by the army of paid propagandists on social media networks, the edit warned.

These days, many high-profile schemes of the BJP government are in doldrums, the “Modi Fests” like Make in India and several others are flopping despite spending huge sums on them, but they are being touted as asuccessful by beating drums of advertising’, the edit said.

“In Gujarat, it is said ‘Vikas gaando thyo chhe’ (Development has gone crazy/haywire). Sinha has exposed the government claims by saying that contrary to the official figures that GDP rate is 5.7 per cent, it is actually 3.7 per cent. When the Congress’s Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram said the same, they were labeled ‘mad’ by the BJP,” the Sena noted.

It drew attention to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s recent statements, stating how some people bragged so much about ‘vikas’ that it (‘vikas’) has now ended up as ‘crazy’, but, some people are still under the impression that if they win elections by manipulating EVMs, then it is ‘development’…!

The Sena dwelt on Singh’s various observations on the economy questioning the government’s tall claims on various fronts, how demonetisation fuelled the economic downslide, drop in production, runaway inflation, zooming prices of gas, diesel and petrol, loss of jobs, steep fall in investments, precarious condition of the banking sector, etc.

“We had said all this over a year ago and branded as ‘traitors’ by the BJP. Now it is Yashwant Sinha’s turn..!” the edict concluded.

—IANS