India News | White Paper a 'granary of Concoctions, Mountain of Lies': Adhir

New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday called the White Paper brought by the government a "granary of concoctions and a mountain of lies", and said the document is nothing but an "electoral manifesto".

He said the objective of bringing the paper is just to score electoral and brownie points.

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The UPA government enacted Acts like the Right to Education, and Right to Food that strengthened the social, political, and economic foundation of the country, the Congress leader said.

"The intent and purpose of bringing this White Paper is simply not convincing. It is nothing but a sheer concoction... a granary of concoctions and a mountain of lies presented before us. What is the need," he said, while participating in a debate on the White Paper presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to compare the UPA and NDA regimes.

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The Baharampur (West Bengal) MP said the BJP is indulging in "politics of appropriation, politics of corruption, and politics of narcissism".

He added that the ruling dispensation is a doing vilification campaign through this paper and is indulging in the "competitive abusive languages" against the opposition parties.

"At the fag end of this session, this kind of White Paper only with an objective to tarnish the 10 years of UPA government does not cut much ice," he said, adding that the BJP-led government should not forget that "Rome was not built in a day."

The Congress leader said the treasury benches should not ignore the history and forget the past developments.

"What is the use in abusing the family, Nehru, all of them on every issue? Please tell me...You abuse them in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, everywhere. What is the objective? We need to introspect," he said.

Chowdhury said (Late) Indira Gandhi, former prime minister of India, got shot in the chest for the country, "tell me how many crores did she own, how much money did she earn?"

He said the government should appreciate what the UPA regime has done for the country.

Citing data, he said that in 1947-48, per capita income was Rs 247, it increased to Rs 64,361; poverty was reduced significantly from 65 per cent in 1956; life expectancy was 32 years when India got independence, it improved in 67 years in 11 years.

Now it is the duty of governments to further improve upon these numbers, he said, adding "you should not abuse your predecessors".

Alleging that this government is a government that goes backs on its promises, he said the Centre failed on 2 crore job promises, doubling farmers' income, and on demonetisation.

"They did not fulfil a single promise they had made," the Congress leader said.

He alleged that several scams took place in the present NDA government such as coal import scam, Rotomac fraud, 'Vijay Mallya' loan default, ICICI-Videocon fraud scam.

"So many scams... and you blame others," he said, adding, "social stability, cohesion, peace. These are fundamental conditions for the growth of an economy".

N K Premachandran (RSP) appealed to the House to disapprove the White Paper.

He said the NDA government has devastated the economy of the country.

"What is the bonafide intention of this White Paper... If you are so hopeful and confident, then what is the intent of this paper," Premachandran said, adding that the BJP government is coming up with baseless allegations.

The paper, he said, has not talked about unemployment and high inflation.

(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)