Combative PM says UPA fared better than NDA
7 March 2013 1:14 AM GMT
The usually reticent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh surprised members of parliament on Wednesday when he aggressively attacked the Opposition. Winding up the discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s address, Singh used the opportunity to not only criticise the BJP but also defend his government.
Singh said though the BJP had used choicest abuses against his government, he would not reply in the same language and the government’s performance will be the best judge. He also took on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi who had called him a ‘night watchman’ at the BJP’s national executive. ‘Jo garajte hain, woh baraste nahi (Thunderous clouds do not bring showers),’ said Singh in an apparent dig at Modi.
The PM did not even spare BJP patriarch LK Advani. He reminded the Opposition that despite the principal opposition fielding their ‘Iron Man’ in 2004 they lost the general elections. ‘The NDA may be defeated again, given their arrogance,’ he said, while tearing into the BJP’s assault and calling their ‘India Shining’ campaign a disaster. Singh said economic growth was higher under the UPA regime. Growth under the UPA was 3.5 per cent as compared to the NDA’s 2.9 per cent per year.
The PM said the country has progressed much better in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing during the UPA’s tenure. He used numbers to back his argument of how the average economic growth rate of the country in nine years of UPA rule was 7.9 per cent, while that of the six years of NDA rule recorded a GDP growth of 6 per cent. He also compared the industrial growth rate saying while the average growth for past nine years was 8.5 per cent, in the NDA regime it was 5.6 per cent for six years.
Singh said though the BJP had used choicest abuses against his government, he would not reply in the same language and the government’s performance will be the best judge. He also took on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi who had called him a ‘night watchman’ at the BJP’s national executive. ‘Jo garajte hain, woh baraste nahi (Thunderous clouds do not bring showers),’ said Singh in an apparent dig at Modi.
The PM did not even spare BJP patriarch LK Advani. He reminded the Opposition that despite the principal opposition fielding their ‘Iron Man’ in 2004 they lost the general elections. ‘The NDA may be defeated again, given their arrogance,’ he said, while tearing into the BJP’s assault and calling their ‘India Shining’ campaign a disaster. Singh said economic growth was higher under the UPA regime. Growth under the UPA was 3.5 per cent as compared to the NDA’s 2.9 per cent per year.
The PM said the country has progressed much better in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing during the UPA’s tenure. He used numbers to back his argument of how the average economic growth rate of the country in nine years of UPA rule was 7.9 per cent, while that of the six years of NDA rule recorded a GDP growth of 6 per cent. He also compared the industrial growth rate saying while the average growth for past nine years was 8.5 per cent, in the NDA regime it was 5.6 per cent for six years.
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