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BJP claims credit for impressive growth figures in last few years

BANGALORE: After the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political resolution on Saturday attacked the United Progressive Alliance government for surrendering the nation’s sovereignty and ignoring its security, its economic resolution suggested that the impressive growth record of the last few years was the result of the “momentum” built up during the National Democratic Alliance regime.

“As long as the momentum provided by the NDA government lasted, the economy continued to grow at a brisk pace. No sooner was that momentum lost, growth has started faltering and the economy is beset with problems,” the four-page resolution adopted the BJP’s national executive committee meeting here on Saturday said. Copies of the resolution were made available to the press here on Sunday.

The BJP said the most important issue in the economy today was price rise and its impact on the economy as a whole and on the common man. The Economic Advisory Council, the BJP noted, had observed that inflation could peak at 13 per cent and would take a long time and considerable effort before it could be brought down to 7 per cent.

One of the achievements of the NDA rule was low inflation. It blamed the UPA for converting an economy of surpluses and plenty inherited from the NDA into one of shortages.

West Bengal had witnessed food riots, there were fertilizer riots elsewhere and in the absence of remunerative prices for their crops farmers had been driven to suicide. Import of of foodgrains by the government had added to farmers’ plight.

On the inflation front, the resolution attacked the government for blaming the high price of petroleum crude in the international market and hoarding, smuggling, profiteering by traders and inept State governments instead of taking the responsibility for failure to protect the ‘aam admi.’

Infrastructure projects were being shelved or abandoned – the number of such projects was 39 in the quarter ending March 31, 2008 as against 16 the previous year. The number of projects completed had also come down sharply, the BJP noted.

The only reference to the loan waiver for farmers announced in the last Union Budget was that the Centre had shown an unhealthy propensity to “transfer its fiscal burden” to the next government. In this context, it mentioned the Sixth Pay Commission arrears also.

It alleged that the UPA had “behaved like slaves of the Left” for four years and not only stalled but destroyed the forward movement in economic reforms. It noted that offers of cooperation by the BJP in passing certain legislation furthering the reform process had earlier been spurned by the government. Why are they so keen on our help now, the BJP asked.

The people of India had been falsely led to believe that the UPA had brought together a dream team to take the economy forward. That dream had turned out to be a nightmare, the BJP said, even as it asked people to vote out the UPA at the next election if they want ‘dana’ (grain) in their stomachs and ‘anna’(money) in their pockets.

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