Opposition pillories government on handling of economy

NEW DELHI: Government was pilloried in Lok Sabha today with opposition members unrelenting in their criticism of handling the economy and saying the advent of BJP in power has brought sky-rocketing prices and "bad days" for the people.

They were critical of the "failure" of the BJP-led government to provide adequate allocation for key sectors like health and education, even after coming to power by promising jobs to millions of unemployed youth.

The opposition members also made a strong pitch for bringing back black money to rev up the economy.

Resuming the discussion on the general budget, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told the government that since it has come to power, prices of essential commodities have sky-rocketed instead of coming down, which was one of their "lofty promises".

"Those who had come to power promising that they will bring down prices of essential items by at least 25 per cent, have failed to keep the promise as the prices have been rising since the Narendra Modi government took office," he said.

Yadav, a former Defence Minister, regretted that the armed forces were not getting enough allocation to stay fighting fit to effectively meet the external threats to the country. He also expressed concern over "Chinese incursions" into the Indian territory.

The SP supremo wanted the government to start a huge drive against black money.

He especially faulted the government for "ignoring" the farmers and not talking about changing the countryside, and instead speaking only about construction of new townships.

"You have conducted searches against petty shop-keepers but what will you get out of them? You don't have the guts to go for the big guns," he said, adding that six biggest industrialists in Asia are from Gujarat and the Prime Minister is also from there.