No one in the government understands economic policies: Yashwant Sinha

Q. How many meetings of the National Executive has the BJP convened in the last four years?

A. I do not know how many meetings have been convened because I have not attended them. They do inform me about the meetings, but I have not attended because it is of no use to go there simply to show your face unless there is fruitful participation in the meetings. Then I thought I should bring this to the notice of the PM. So, I wrote him letters on some issues. I remember, particularly, a letter which I wrote on rural development. I wrote letters to the Finance Minister on Krishi Sinchayi Yojana but unfortunately, I did not get even an acknowledgement of the letters.

Q. Did you ever try to meet the PM in person?

A. I sought a meeting with the PM in 2016. So far, there is no response from the office of the PM. There is a system and they must have brought it to his notice repeatedly. I have indicated to him on more than one occasion that I would like to meet him. But, he hasn’t found time yet to meet me.

So, what does that mean then? It suggests that the doors are closed for you. That the PM and the party feels that there is no need for your views or suggestions. After that, when I realised that the economic situation was deteriorating, and rural distress was magnifying, I decided that I will go public with my opinion. And that is when I wrote a piece in The Indian Express in September last year which created a bit of a hue and cry.

Even after that there was no response. I continued to press my views on a number of issues. Then, I talked to a few like-minded people within the party and outside. There are good people in every political party. Many of us felt that we should come together. That is how we formed the National Forum of like-minded people to go to the citizens of the country.

Q. Critics of Modi say that he has dictatorial tendencies. What has been your experience of dealing with him?

A. I would say that I haven’t dealt with Modi very closely, either when he was the general secretary of the party here or when he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat. I couldn’t understand many traits of his character when I met him several times when he was the CM of Gujarat. In 2014, when the Lok Sabha elections were due, I decided that I wouldn’t contest. In fact, there was pressure to the contrary. Leaders in the party wanted me to contest for one last time. It was maybe because of the reasons you just mentioned or maybe because it would have been difficult to work in any manner.

Q. But, it is said that you didn’t get a ticket because your son Jayant Sinha wanted to contest the polls. What would you say about that?

A. No, Jayant wasn’t in the picture then. He came into the picture much later. He was working in a corporation. When he expressed desire to contest elections, the party readily awarded him a ticket and he went on to win. The only thing I said was that I didn’t want to remain in electoral politics anymore.

And I must explain this to you since I want you to understand these electoral nuances. This is electoral politics. People belonging to different political parties participate in it. Even those who don’t belong to political parties often contest as independents. So, electoral politics is a part of our democracy. Then, there is party politics. People belonging to different parties may or may not contest elections, but they still belong to different political parties. Then there were people like JP, who advocated party-less politics. Even Mahatma Gandhi wanted a party-less democracy. Then there is public life of the country. Public life consists of everyone who is in the public domain. There are intellectuals, non-party people, who contribute in their own way to the public life of the country. So, I opted to walk out of electoral politics and I will have to take a call if I want to be in party politics. I may even give up party politics. At some point of time, I will have to take a decision.

Q. What changes do you see in your party under Modi-Shah Raj?

A. We should not invest much time debating such issues. In the history of BJP or in long political history of this country, these are all fleeting issues.

Q. Your criticism of the government seems to have more emphasis on the economic policies. What are the policy flaws that you would like to mention, especially in terms of economic policies?

A. First of all, I would say no one in the government understands economic policies. There are a few in the bureaucracy who understand, but no one listens to them. The way they have handled the economy in the last three-and-a-half years, is enough to suggest that they have failed miserably to understand the driving forces of the economy and the impending crisis.

Q. You have stated that the economy is in bad shape, but the present government claims otherwise. They claim demonetisation killed corruption and will help the economy in the long run. Being a former Finance Minister, what is your opinion about demonetisation?

A. As far as black money is concerned, the counting is still on. No one knows how much black money was recovered during the so-called ‘surgical strike’ on black money. RBI says they are still counting demonetised currency as they had not counted demonetised currency deposited in Indian banks in Nepal. Why is RBI not telling us the truth? Because, the government does not want it to. The government does not want us to know the real data.

What was the benefit of demonetisation is the question for which I do not have any answer. PM claims demonetisation helped the poor but he cannot explain how. I hope the time will come when poor people will understand that they were deceived.

Q. What is your opinion about the Goods and Services Tax? The government has claimed that it is the biggest tax reform since Independence.

A. Everyone knows that Modiji as the Chief Minister of Gujarat had opposed the GST. I was chairperson of the Finance Committee which was discussing the issue, and I remember representatives of the Gujarat government had opposed the bill. Now, they are touting it as the biggest economic reform of post-Independence India.

Q. But, FM claimed BJP never opposed GST…

A. He is telling a lie. Ask them how many leaders of the BJP have shown interest in GST when BJP was in Opposition. I was the chairperson of the committee, which was given the responsibility to draft laws on GST. No one then had ever asked me anything about GST.

Q. What is your analysis of the Congress’ role as the main Opposition party?

A. All I would like to say about the Congress is that its role as the main Opposition party is more disappointing than its performance as a ruling party. The Congress party has not fulfilled its duty as the main Opposition party. Had Congress party fulfilled its duties with honesty, people of this country would have been more aware of the problems bothering us. They have neither utilised the parliamentary space to raise the issues, nor the space outside Parliament. Of late, we have seen a growing disenchantment, and, of course, the Congress will gain from it, but they have not performed their duties. I have told my friends in the Congress that they have not fulfilled their duties.

I went to Akola in Maharastra and staged a dharna for three days in support of the farmers’ protest there. Everyone came together. I wonder why the Congress party did not do so. I went to Narsimhapur in Madhya Pradesh to protest the BJP’s policies, but the Congress party did not come forward. They want their names on the front pages of all newspapers and on prime-time news without breaking into a sweat. But that is not how leaders are made. Sitting in the living room, you cannot hope to bring change into politics or society. Our great leaders could bring changes only because they worked hard on the ground.

The is the last part of the interview. The first part of the interview can be found here