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Mamata Banerjee said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic package was a bluff.
Calcutta
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticized the central government’s COVID-19 economic package on Wednesday, calling it “a big zero” without any help to the states. Ms. Banerjee alleged that the central government was “misleading the people” during the coronavirus crisis and planned to “financially block” the states.
State Finance Minister Amit Mitra also accused the center of misleading people, saying the real stimulus is about 2 percent of the country’s GDP instead of 10 percent as advertised.
“The special economic package announced by the government of the Union is nothing more than a big zero. It is an eyewash to deceive people. There is nothing for the unorganized sector, public spending and job creation”, Banerjee said at a press conference.
“Yesterday, when the Prime Minister announced the Rs 20 lakh crore package, we had hoped that the interest of the states would be examined, the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limit would increase. But today, after the Minister of Union Finance did In the announcements, it was discovered that all that was said yesterday was a bluff, “Banerjee said.
The Trinamool head of Congress also asked why loans to farmers had not been given up and said the center was “cheating and lying” to people about the package.
People expected from the Prime Minister’s speech on Tuesday that states will receive help to boost MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), employment, the unorganized sector, public spending, additional subsidies and health infrastructure, Banerjee said.
However, the center has not given the states anything, he said. “We have not been given a penny. There is no profit and it only burns,” Banerjee said.
The prime minister alleged that the center generally allocates Rs 14 lakh crore for MSMEs, but now they have reduced it to Rs 3 lakh crore under the guise of a special economic package.
“Why did it not work for self-sufficiency for the past six years? What have you been doing for so long,” he said as he answered Prime Minister Modi’s call for an “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (self-sufficient India).
Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said previous interventions by the Reserve Bank of India and the Union Finance Ministry worth Rs 10 lakh crore are included in the Rs 20 lakh crore package, and are considered a “highly successful stimulus”.
“People must know the truth and the new real announcement from the center is only Rs 4.2 lakh crore or 2 percent of GDP,” Mitra said after Nirmala Sitharaman shared some details of the plan on Wednesday.
(With PTI tickets)
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