India News | 'Viksit Bharat' a Pipe Dream; at Current Growth Rate, Will Remain So for a Long Time: Chidambaram
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Hitting out at the government, Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047 is a pipe dream and will remain so for a long time at the current rate of growth.
New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Hitting out at the government, Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047 is a pipe dream and will remain so for a long time at the current rate of growth.
Addressing a press conference on the Union Budget, Chidambaram also cited Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran to press his point.
Asked about the government's assertions of the goal of making India developed by 2047, Chidambaram said, "It is a pipe dream today and at this rate of growth, it will remain a pipe dream for a long time."
"Not only I said it, the Chief Economic Advisor has said yesterday that unless we grow at 8 per cent for 15 to 20 years, by 2047, we will not become a developed country. At 6-6.5 per cent, it will take another 15-20 years," the former finance minister said.
Asserting that the BJP-led Centre has "no new ideas", Chidambaram said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is walking on the "worn-out path" and not willing to break free as Congress governments had done in 1991 and 2004.
He said the takeaway from the Union Budget 2025-26 is that the ruling BJP is wooing the tax-paying middle-class and the Bihar electorate.
The finance minister is "walking on the worn-out path and not willing to break free as we did in 1991 and 2004", the Congress leader 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)