Union Cabinet 'biggest casualty' in Modi government: Sinha
Kolkata, Dec 9: Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha Sunday accused the Narendra Modi government of destroying various institutions in the country, including the Union Cabinet.
Speaking at a talk show, 'Idea of Bengal', organised by the ruling Trinamool Congress, Sinha accused the prime minister of trying to "undermine" the Rajya Sabha during the passage of key bills.
"The Modi government has destroyed various institutions of the country. But the biggest casualty is the Union Cabinet," the former Union minister alleged.
"I am saying this because several important decisions are being taken without informing the Cabinet, be it the Rafale jet deal or demonetisation," added Sinha, who held the finance and external affairs portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Parliament was the "second casualty" as the Modi government has "tried to undermine" the Rajya Sabha, during the passage of several important bills, Sinha said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not enjoy majority in the Upper House of Parliament.
Calling demonetisation a "disaster", Sinha said the government was trying to "dress up" the figures of economic growth to hide the "failures" of its economic policies.
"First they changed the methods by which GDP is calculated. Next when it came out that the UPA government performed better that the present regime, they withdrew the data from the website. Then the government fudged figures to put up a healthy picture of the economy," he said.
The Modi government has a "habit" of blaming the previous governments for all the wrong things that had "either happened or are happening" in the country, he added.
"In 2014, the government had given specific figures of the amount of NPAs, now again in 2018 they have come up with a new figure of NPAs till 2014. The idea is to put all the blame on the previous regimes," he said further.
Sinha stressed that West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee had "all traits" to make a good prime minister.
He hoped that West Bengal and TMC would play a major role in defeating Modi in the 2019 general elections.
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4 workers die after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad
Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.
The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.
The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.
They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.
Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.
