Taking a dig at the Centre for not furnishing information on deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, or data on members of the purported “tukde-tukde” gang, Congress Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the NDA stands for “No Data Available’ government.
"I am a member of the 'tukde-tukde' gang, which means ‘disruption’,” he said. “I am worried because in this Parliament a question was asked: ‘who are members of the tukde-tukde gang. The honourable minister said, ‘we have no data available on tukde-tukde gang’.”
“No data is also available on oxygen shortage deaths, corpses floating in rivers, migrants walking back to their homes, and doubling farmers income, which was supposed to happen in 2022,” he said.
This, Chidambaram then said, is a ‘no data available government’..."
Initiating the discussion on the Union Budget, he said, “I am happy (that) I am speaking in the council of states, otherwise known as the Rajya Sabha under the Constitution. Had the Congress not been there, this (Rajya Sabha) would still (have been) under the Government of India…the council of the princes; and instead of us, it would have been bejewelled rulers sitting…”
“Thank God for the Congress, we have a Rajya Sabha and I am able to speak to you,” he said, addressing the Deputy Chairman.
Stating that unemployment is on the rise in the country, Chidambaram said Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of employment but left out key statistics. Chidambaram spoke immediately after Prime Modi's reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address.
The Congress leader said: “Before we were obliged to walk out, the Prime Minister was speaking eloquently about jobs and employment. I want to humbly submit to him a statistic which he should use in his next speech. As on March 31, 2021, there were 8.72 lakh vacancies in the Central government. And the almighty Government of India recruited 78,264 persons to fill vacancies, leaving nearly 8 lakh vacancies vacant as of today.”
He said, “The thing I liked about the Finance Minister’s Budget speech is that it was the shortest speech of 90 minutes. I will also keep my reply very short.”
Last year, he said, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman projected 2021-22 fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent. “I had cautioned and said it will not be contained at 6.8 per cent and said we would do better than it," he said. “They have done better than 6.8 per cent — they have done 6.9 per cent.”
Chidambaram also said the Railways Ministry had said 151 passenger trains on 109 routes would be bid out to the private-sector but it got zero bid. "Why do you make these announcements which you do not have capacity to execute,” he asked.
He said: “In 2016-17, India's GDP grew by 8.3 per cent. In 2019-20, it slid down year-by-year to 3.7 per cent, and in 2020-21, the pandemic year, we hit a recession. I would leave out that year, but in four years, this government has brought down the growth rate —pre-pandemic — from 8.3 per cent to 3.7 per cent.”
“In 2019-20, GDP in constant terms was Rs 145 lakh crore. In 2020-21, the pandemic year, it came down to Rs 135 lakh crore. We are growing only when we go back to Rs 145 lakh crore," he said.
He said Sitharaman must clarify the government’s claims of reaching pre-pandemic level growth.
(With inputs from agencies)