Accusing the Congress of delaying reforms with its ‘obstructionism’ in Parliament, he also took a dig at ‘families’ controlling political parties saying less number of businesses are now family-controlled with start-up revolution. Against the backdrop of the failure of Rajya Sabha to pass the much-delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST) during the just-concluded monsoon session, Jaitley said, “India is getting increasingly polarised between those who want to grow and those who want to obstruct.
“We have seen a very disappointing but a very educative Parliament session coming to an end. One needs to understand the politics of reform to assess the growth story.”
The Finance Minister wondered “till what extent can the <g data-gr-id="27">indirectly-elected</g> <g data-gr-id="28">House hold</g> reform proposals passed by the directly elected house which represents <g data-gr-id="30">will</g> of the people?
“Time has come to debate on this crucial question, to find out a conventional answer to this problem.”
Hitting out at Congress leaders, Jaitley said, “You can’t have individual ambitions obstruct a popular mandate.
“Less and <g data-gr-id="38">less</g> businesses are controlled by families due to start-ups, but more political parties are family controlled. Families that control political parties believe that they have <g data-gr-id="36">divine</g> right to be in power.”
“Such tendencies lead to a right to obstruct. It is <g data-gr-id="32">time</g> we set up conventions as the British did to ensure we get legislative sanctions,” he said.
Apparently making a case for further reforms in terms of opening up more sectors for foreign investments, he said, “Except for a few rare sectors, India must accept that it has to completely open up.” Speaking on a range of macroeconomic issues, Jaitley said that the inflation was trending down and hoped that the central bank would take note of this.