India News | Meet Modi Govt's Twins - Monetisation and Demonetisation: Ajay Maken
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Monetisation and demonetisation are twins of the Modi government with both having the same inclination to loot the poor and benefit a few capitalists, the Congress alleged on Tuesday.
Lucknow, Sep 7 (PTI) Monetisation and demonetisation are twins of the Modi government with both having the same inclination to loot the poor and benefit a few capitalists, the Congress alleged on Tuesday.
Taking a dig at the Union government, Congress general secretary Ajay Maken also accused the Centre of putting the country's assets on a “mega discount sale”.
"The Modi government has given birth to twins in the name of development. One is called demonetisation and the other monetisation. Both have the same behaviour,” former Union minister Maken told reporters,
“Demonetisation looted the poor and small traders of the country, while monetisation looted the country's heritage. Both have been brought to benefit a handful of capitalists," he added.
The Union government recently announced a multi-crore scheme, known as the National Monetisation Pipeline scheme, aimed at unlocking the value of infrastructural assets across various sectors ranging from power to roadways to Indian railways.
As per the details of MNP worth Rs 6 lakh crore, spelt out by Union Finance Minister N Sitharaman on August 23, the asset monetisation does not involve the selling of land and is aimed at monetising "brownfield assets".
"The sudden announcement and secret decision raise doubt on the intention of the government," Maken said.
Referring to strategic assets, Maken said, "In the UPA, it was decided that the strategic assets will not be privatised. Special attention will be exercised towards the Railway line and gas pipeline.”
“A safety point of view was always maintained towards them so that they do not go into private hands. And they should also not go into the hands of any foreign power directly or indirectly," Maken said, recalling the UPA's policy on the subject.
Maken also claimed that land being a state subject, different state governments have given land at concessional rates.
"In this case, the Centre should have taken the state governments into confidence. But there is 'khot' (flaw) in their intention, and hence they did not do so," he added.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)