You started privatisation in 91: FM Sitharaman hits back at Congress

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday (February 11) sought to hit back the opposition over its criticism of the government’s divestment plans for public sector undertakings, saying that it was the Congress that had started privatisation in 1991.

Congress initiated the privatisation process following the report of the Malhotra Committee in 1991 and disinvestment of worth over ₹1 lakh crore was made that year and the following years, she said.

“I want to ask the Congress party? Do you want privatisation or not? You started it in 1991, what is the explanation for over one lakh crore disinvestment under UPA?” she questioned in Rajya Sabha during the debate on the Union Budget 2022-23.

The government has come in for strong criticism over divestment of government enterprises at what many say is below par rate over the years, which some Congress leaders have said was the government’s way of selling national assets to “capitalist friends”.

The government has also not been able to meet its divestment targets over the last years.

Over the last few months, the government has been able to sell Air India to the Tata Group for around ₹18,000 crore, with Tata paying around ₹2,000 crore in cash and finishing the rest as repayment of Air India’s earlier debts.

The government however would still be paying over ₹50,000 crore of government-guaranteed debt that had accumulated over the years of running the airlines in loss.

Replying to the Opposition’s charge that the government was legalising cryptocurrency by taxing it, Sitharaman said, “I just want to say that by taxing the cryptocurrencies, we have taxed the profit emanating from the transactions. I am not doing anything to legalise it or ban it or regulate it.”

“Legitimate or illegitimate is a different question, but I will tax as that is our sovereign right,” she said.

Also read: Takeaways from Sitharaman’s speech: Key proposals

On the issue of assistance to the states, she said for the financial year 2022-23, the allocation is ₹1 lakh crore for capitalising overall investments in the economy for 50 years without any interest burden.

The Finance Minister also said that keeping in mind the states and their difficulties in focus, we ensured an advance instalment of devolution is given to them to double their cash in hand in November 2021.

Similarly, in January also, we again gave them double the monthly instalment so that they can spend faster, Sitharaman said.

Slamming the principal Opposition party, she said that a Member said our policies were remote-controlled from somewhere, including Nagpur, “this comes from a party where there is no party democracy and the policy was decided by 10 Janpath and announced on 7, LKM (Lok Kalyan Marg).”

“Was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was from this House, also disconnected from ground reality?”

She replied to the Opposition Member who commented that being a Member of the Upper House, she was unaware of the ground reality.

“10 years being guided by a Prime Minister from this august House, I don’t expect a member to suggest that to me,” she commented during her reply.