BJP veteran Yashwant Sinha, a former finance minister, spun a surprise on his own government’s economic performance in a tearing interview to the Indian Express this morning, titled “I need to speak up now”. He said “The economy is on a downward spiral and a hard landing is inevitable.”
The opposition was prompt not to miss this opportunity to take a dig at the Modi government, who has been shifting goalposts and also sidelining issues on economic downturn for some months now.
On the said matter, a sarcastic tweet was published from the official handle of Congress VP Rahul Gandhi :
Ladies & Gentlemen, this is your copilot & FM speaking. Plz fasten your seat belts & take brace position.The wings have fallen off our plane https://t.co/IsOA8FQa6u
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 27, 2017
Many took to twitter to reply to Gandhi, confirming how indeed Sinha had taken this right bold step :
Yashwant Sinha is one of the credible voices inside BJP & It's good that they hv started raising their concerns in national interest.☺
— Rajeev (@Rajeev_Sahu) September 27, 2017
They're taking us towards an economic crisis. If BJP isn't kicked out soon enough, everyone will be forced to live below the poverty line.
— Hasiba ? (@HasibaAmin) September 27, 2017
Yashwant Sinha Has Spoken The Truth. We Can Consider Him A #Nationalist. Other People Who Are Not Speaking The Truth Are #AntiNationalists
— Deepak John (@djohninc) September 27, 2017
Former Finance Minister, P Chidambaram also emphasised on how Sinha had spoken ‘Truth to Power’ :
Yashwant Sinha speaks Truth to Power. Will Power now admit the Truth that economy is sinking?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) September 27, 2017
Ramchandra Guha, historian and columnist also took to twitter quoting a part from Sinha’s interview “Instilling fear in the minds of the people is the name of the new game”
"Instilling fear in the minds of the people is the name of the new game", says the senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha:https://t.co/zutpch1tIu
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) September 27, 2017
Guha has been recently served a notice from BJP and RSS for alleging that both entities were responsible for murder of senior journalist, Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore last month.
Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, also said that the article was very hard hitting indeed:
V hard hitting article by Sh Yashwant Sinha ji
I need to speak up now – The Indian Express https://t.co/qnt0kG2X3F
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 27, 2017
Ashok Gehlot, INC currently in charge of Gujarat elections, tweeted :
Sh #YashwantSinha has indeed fulfilled his national duty by speaking agnst state of country’s economy, wch is going down due to NDA policies
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) September 27, 2017
Tejashwi Yadav, former deputy chief minister of Bihar was seen retweeting all posts related to this matter. Yadav was ousted from his chair when Nitish Kumar broke the MahaGathbandhan abruptly and joined hands with the BJP in the state:
Modi Claims He's Seen Poverty, Jaitley Working Overtime To Ensure Indians Experience It, Says BJP's #YashwantSinhahttps://t.co/iLLrIT9QXg pic.twitter.com/1ugdynY7xD
— Outlook Magazine (@Outlookindia) September 27, 2017
Many official spokespersons from regional opposition parties and others were quick to back and affirm the remarks made by Yashwant Sinha on the current state of Indian economy :
BJP's 'surgical struke' on India's economy, employment & growth exposed as Yashwant Sinha speaks for the 'Nation'.
https://t.co/wuBR9FaSkm— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) September 27, 2017
And we need to listen . https://t.co/LFtATWHlEN
— Pankhuri Pathak پنکھڑی (@pankhuripathak) September 26, 2017
First Shourie, then @Swamy39 , now Yashwant Sinha: guess the opposition (enemy?) to the Modi Govt lies within!?
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 27, 2017
*I need to speak up now*
✍? *Yashwant Sinha*
Sept. 27, 2017
Indian Express :I shall be failing in my national… https://t.co/MsKQBeU7FR
— Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) September 27, 2017
The nation should know that Arun Jaitley spends every second day in a Delhi magistrate court, prosecuting Kejriwal https://t.co/nEcC9ccUDf
— Ashish Khetan (@AashishKhetan) September 27, 2017
Three BJP leaders have shredded Modi govt. economic record: Shourie, Swamy & Sinha. What does this say about the state of Indian opposition?
— Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) September 27, 2017
Hard hitting. Indeed. Trinamool have been speaking this language both outside and #InsideParliament https://t.co/Faq53oCMHM
— Derek O'Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) September 27, 2017
Sir it is 3pm…has Mamataji or any opp leader gone to town on Sinha article? Only a tweet from RG & some spox soundbites so far.
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) September 27, 2017
It's not 5.7, Growth is less than 3.7% rues BJP Leader #YashwantSinha #IndianEconomyInPeril pic.twitter.com/NIs5fScMVK
— Maharashtra Congress (@INCMaharashtra) September 27, 2017
“PM claims he’s seen poverty from close quarters. His Finance Min making sure all Indians see it”: Yashwant Sinha https://t.co/XEYw1dLI34
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) September 27, 2017
Jaitley, a lucky finance minister, luckier than any in the post-liberalisation era but he screwed up Indian economy! https://t.co/WZKRx3rCwB
— Arun Shourie ᶠᵃⁿ (@FeignShourie) September 27, 2017
Yashwant Sinha, was completely sidelined after the BJP returned to power in 2014 and has often been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Economist Surjit Bhalla, member of the PM’s newly formed economic council had also commented to NDTV yesterday, “I don’t want to use the term technical….I don’t think it’s technical, I think it’s structural.”
WATCH | 'Something went wrong on GDP': Economist Surjit Bhalla To NDTV https://t.co/0kc9eR7Za5 pic.twitter.com/T5516qvC7P
— NDTV (@ndtv) September 27, 2017