Rahul Gandhi targets PM Modi on loan waiver to industrialists; FM Sitharaman hits back

The Congress leader, who is currently travelling abroad, has been attacking the government for waiving of loans of industrialists

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Modi government of waiving loans to the tune of Rs 2.37 lakh crore of a few industrialists, prompting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to hit back questioning his understanding for economics.

“The Modi government this year waived loans of Rs 2,37,876 crore of a few industrialists. With this amount, 11 crore families could have been provided Rs 20,000 each in these difficult Covid times. The truth about Modi ji's development,” Rahul said on Twitter.

Sitharaman countered the charges claiming that he failed to understand despite being provided with an explainer months ago.

“Amazing how this former President of Congress keeps wanting to mislead Indians repeatedly, despite being supplied with a fact-check on this, months ago,” Sitharaman said referring to her clarification when he had levelled similar allegations in April.

“Does he not understand? Kindly refer to this detailed thread, Rahul ji, in case you have forgotten,” the finance minister said.

Rahul has been targeting the Modi government of favouring crony capitalists by waiving loans and farming policies to benefit them at the cost of the poor.

In April, Sitharaman had said provisions are made for non-performing assets as per the four-year provisioning cycle laid down by the Reserve Bank of India.

“Upon full provisioning being done banks write-off the fully provided NPA but continue to pursue recovery against the borrower. No loan is waived,” Sitharaman had said.