Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram compared India’s fiscal deficits during the terminal years of the UPA and current NDA governments, citing 4.5% in 2013-14 under UPA versus 5.8% in 2023-24 under NDA. He noted economic ups and downs, highlighting the pandemic years for NDA and global crises for UPA.
Chidambaram emphasized the complexity of fiscal correction, cautioning against oversimplification in economic discourse. His comments followed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of a revised fiscal deficit estimate of 5.8% for FY24, with a commitment to reduce it below 4.5% by 2025-26.
Amit Malviya, BJP’s IT cell national convener, criticized Chidambaram’s remarks, accusing him of inconsistency. Malviya referenced Chidambaram’s previous praise for NDA’s fiscal management while now alleging “intellectual treachery” and flip-flopping. He highlighted Chidambaram’s acknowledgment of NDA’s focus on deficit containment at the India Today Conclave 2023.
Malviya denounced Chidambaram’s comparison of the Covid-19 pandemic with the 2007-2008 financial crisis, labelling it as distortion. He differentiated between the global impact of the pandemic and the US-centric financial crisis, rebuking Chidambaram’s remarks as intellectually lazy.
Also Read: Understanding Cervical Cancer: Prevention, Symptoms, and Treatment
Further, Malviya criticized Chidambaram’s tenure as Finance Minister, attributing policy paralysis and high fiscal deficits during the UPA era. He contrasted this with NDA’s fiscal discipline, citing a reduction in the deficit from 4.5% in 2013-14 to 3.4% in 2018-19. Malviya accused the UPA of masking fiscal deficits through hidden expenditures, casting doubt on Congress’s credibility in advocating fiscal responsibility.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
