Sinha versus Sinha on state of economy

Former Union Finance Minister and veteran BJP leader Yashwant Sinha made a stinging remark on the state of the economy in the Narendra Modi-led NDA govt. in an article published in prestigious English daily. Yashwant Sinha is not only a former finance Minister but also a retired IAS officer, who used to be the Principal Secretary of former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur before joining politics. He was Union Finance Minister in the Vajpayee govt. As far as his academic record is concerned, he is an MA in Economics from Patna University. So, he cannot be a layman so far as his view is concerned on the state of the economy in the country. He may have a personal grudge against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not being given due position in the govt., but the way he criticized economic measures such as demonetization and GST cannot be given a go by. Instead of taking Yashwant Sinha’s criticism in a positive way, the entire Cabinet in the Modi govt. came out to attack him. But at the same time Opposition leaders have rejoiced at Yashwant Sinha's broadside of the economic policy of the Narendra Modi govt. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh defending the Govt. said that India is the fastest growing economy. There are four fastest growing economies in the world and India's position is at fourth. So, India is the fourth fastest growing economy in the world. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mr. Jayant Sinha, who is the son of Yashwant Sinha, has also written a blog to defend the economic condition of the country. He is also a well-read person. He is very articulate and has in-depth knowledge of economics. Narendra Modi govt. put him into the service to defend the govt. and he has rebutted his father’s charges against it. The issue appears to have taken the shape of father versus son. Being the son of Yashwant Sinha, the appeal among his caste men is still working. What wrong Yashwant Sinha has said? He opened the public eyes by enumerating the price of essential commodities. Jayant has tried his best to rebut the charges made by his father Yashwant Sinha against the handling of the economy by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yashwant says in his article that as PM Modi has seen poverty from close quarters, so Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ensures that people see poverty from very near. In other words, Yashwant Sinha says that Jailtely ensures making the people poor. He has mishandled the economy. Jayant Sinha rebuts his father’s comments on the status of the economy. He in his blog has said that some "sweeping conclusions" were drawn from a "narrow set of facts", missing the "structural reforms" transforming the economy He said GST, demonetization and digital payments were game-changing efforts to formalize India's economy. He also said India is well on course to achieve 100% village electrification by 2018 with the number of villages remaining to be electrified having decreased to only 4,941 villages by 2017 from 18,452 in 2014. Son’s defence of the govt. doesn’t hold water. It also doesn’t carry weight. Modi govt. must take Yashwant’s broadside of its economic policy seriously at the earliest. Otherwise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may meet Vajpayee’s govt. fate, which was thrown out of power in the very next Lok Sabha elections after five years in 2004 despite the slogan of Shining India.