Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that the Centre’s Narendra Modi government could no longer keep blaming the Congress for leaving behind a legacy of “governance failure”, “policy paralysis” and “economy in shambles” and the Central government will have to take ownership of not only its accomplishments but also its failures from now on.
Kumar told news agency IANS in an interview, “Now the economy has come out of those inheritance issues. No more should they be used as an excuse for anything. Whatever happens now is the government’s own (doing) completely.
“After all the government has done so much despite all of it (legacy issues). It took huge structural reforms like demonetisation, GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Benami Act, RERA and recapitalisation of banks to overcome those legacy issues. I think we have finally overcome those and henceforth, the government should be judged on its own merit.”
Kumar’s comments assume significance in light of the Modi government and the members of the ruling party often blaming the Congress for its governance failures even after running the government for more than four years.
Kumar also said that it was important to look at the last four years of the Narendra Modi government in the context of the legacy it inherited from the UPA regime in 2014. He said that the economy had overcome those issues and henceforth, the government should be judged on its own merit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently chaired the meeting of the Niti Aayog in Delhi, where chief ministers from around the country took part. After coming to power in May 2014, the Modi government had changed the name of the erstwhile Planning Commission to Niti Aayog.
