Modi govt has failed to fulfil its promises, says Jaipal Reddy

Senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday charged the Narendra Modi government with failing to fulfil the promises it had made to the people and diluting the pro-poor programmes launched by the previous United Progressive Alliance government.

Addressing reporters, he said Modi had made several extravagant promises, but none of them had been delivered yet. “The Modi government began with a hype. But in one year it has generated disappointment and disenchantment. Never did anybody in the history make such grand promises and failed to fulfil them in such a miserable fashion,” he said.

One of the major unkept promises is bringing back black money stashed abroad. Modi had not only promised to bring back the money within 30 days of coming to power, but also promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of every citizen of the country. Instead of taking steps to bring back black money, the government has been working on a bill to control black money within the country, Reddy, a former Union minister, said.

He accused the government of trying to dilute pro-people programmes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Allocation for implementing the Food Security Act has been cut down on the pretext of containing fiscal deficit, he said.

The BJP did not announce that it will amend the Land Acquisition Act and make it corporate-friendly at the time of the parliamentary polls in 2014. Industry projects are not suffering due to the problem of availability of land. Only about eight per cent of the projects are delayed due to land problem. Amending the Act has nothing to do with industrial development, he said.

Line-up of Cong pressers

The Congress has lined up a series of press conferences by senior leaders in the coming days in Bengaluru to criticise the Modi government, which will be completing one year in office on May 26. Reddy’s press conference on Wednesday was the first. Abhishek Manu Singhvi is scheduled to address a press conference on May 22, followed by Jairam Ramesh on May 23 and Milind Deora on May 24. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao is scheduled to address a press conference on May 25.