Govt clueless on economy, PM has left ministers to bluff: Chidambaram

Speaking to the press a day after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the INX Media case, former finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday (December 5) said the BJP-led government was “clueless” on the economy and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had left his ministers to “bluff and bluster” while he himself remains silent on the matter.

The former Union finance minister, who spent 106 days in jail and was released on bail on Wednesday, said the BJP government believed problems faced by the economy were cyclical even after seven months of this financial year.

“The government is clueless on the economy, it is stubborn and mulish in defending catastrophic mistakes like demonetisation, flawed GST, tax terrorism. The prime minister has been unusually silent on the economy and has left it to his ministers to indulge in bluff and bluster. The economy can be brought out of the slowdown, but this government is incapable of doing that,” said Chidambaram.

He said even though the Congress and other parties are better equipped to pull the economy out of the slowdown, they have to wait for the right moment.

“We will be lucky to end the year if growth touches 5 per cent. Please remember Dr Arvind Subramanian’s caution that 5 per cent under this government, because of suspect methodology, is not really 5 per cent but less by about 1.5 per cent,” he was quoted as saying.

(With inputs from agencies)