India needs strong, decisive govt to take swift decision, maintain high growth: Jaitley
New Delhi, Oct 16 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday said India needs a strong and decisive leadership at the Centre to continue its high growth path and take swift decisions.
Outlining the challenges for India, Jaitley said being a net buyer of oil, a rise in global crude prices adversely impacts the country and hence the economy has to be resilient to deal with it.
"If this path of high growth trajectory is to continue...if these higher growth, higher revenues and higher resources have to continue, better infrastructure objective has to be achieved, India needs a strong and decisive leadership at the Centre.
"A weak leadership, within days of crisis, could not have handled IL&FS the way the present government did, and therefore a crisis in the making was handled with swiftness," Jaitley said in his address to the AGM of industry chamber Assocham.
Debt-ridden IL&FS and its group companies have defaulted on loan repayments, following which the government superseded its Board by appointing eminent banker Uday Kotak as its Chairman.
Talking about the political challenges facing the country, Jaitley said these are thrown up by unstable coalition and aspiring politicians, who want to acquire the top place.
"Therefore, today what India needs is not individuals with lack of understanding of policies, lack of understanding of directions or inherently unstable coalition, but a government and leadership with absolute clarity about the direction so that this unique position which IMF refers to as a sweet spot in the world, this sweet spot we continue to occupy for next two decades," he said.
Jaitley said if India continues on high growth path, then the country can get rid of poverty and can become a developed country.
"You need a decisive government, you need a government which has a coherent policy and is absolutely clear in the direction you have to move, and you need a government which is not dependent on those who would try to pull the government down by their strategies," Jaitley said in his video conference address.
Indian economy grew at 8.2 per cent in the April-June quarter of current fiscal. It grew at 6.7 per cent in 2017-18 fiscal.
Stating that domestic policies of certain countries have spillover effects on India, Jaitley hoped that such effects will not be everlasting and are transient in character.
"As a fast growing economy we have the capacity to face these challenges," he said.
Jaitley said global oil prices have risen on account of "artificial shortages" and it has adversely impacted India. India imports 83 per cent of its oil needs.
"Therefore we have to face that challenge by making our economy so resilient itself that we have the capacity to bear that challenge," he added.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
