Modi govt's performance should be judged after term ends: Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary

KOLKATA: Union minister Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary has said that the performance of the Modi government should be judged only after its five-year term ends, amid strong criticism by opposition parties over demonetisation and GST.

The minister of state for coal and mines said that adequate time should be given to the central government to work and people should evaluate its performance after that.

"You have to give 12 hours to get curd from milk. If you check the milk every hour, curd will not form," he said at the Golden Jubilee celebration of Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) here yesterday.

His remarks came in the wake of strong criticism of the government by the opposition, which alleged that the BJP-led Union government has failed to bring "achhe din" as promised by the party during its 2014 general election campaign.

The opposition parties have also slammed the government for abruptly demonetising high-value currency in November last year and on Goods and Services Tax implementation this year.

The Union minister acknowledged that there could be some short-term hitches due to the two government decisions, but added that the moves will yield huge benefits in the long-run.

Signalling to the constraints of the previous coalition government, he said alliance partners did not allow the central government to be decisive in the past, but the BJP government has taken more than 800 decisions in its three years.

Chaudhary said India will emerge as a powerful country by 2024. All villages would have electricity by 2019, he added.

The minister urged the employees of public sector units to serve the country through their work and contribute to the profitability of the PSUs. He said HCL's plan to quadruple production was in sync with Modi's 'Make in India' initiative.

HCL CMD Santosh Sharma said the company was implementing mine expansion schemes to quadruple its production from 3.4 million tonnes to 12.4 million tonnes per annum in five years at an estimated capital expenditure of around USD 700 million.

This will help India to reduce copper import which stands at 90 per cent of the domestic consumption, he said.