Modi-led govt’s achievements zero in three years, says Ramanath Rai

Mangaluru, May 28: Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai on Saturday said the so called three-year achievement of the NDA government at the Centre is only rhetoric while the achievement on ground has been zero.

Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Rai said the NDA which had opposed Goods and Services Tax regime and the Aadhaar system when proposed by the United Progressive Alliance government, has introduced them claiming credit for the same.

He dismissed NDA government’s claim of flushing out black money and curbing extremist activities through demonetisation and said the move has severely affected the production sector. Index of Industrial Production, which was 3% in January this year, has come down to 1.2% in March, he pointed out. The extremist activities in Kashmir have been on the rise while CRPF personnel were being mercilessly killed by naxals after demonetisation, Mr. Rai said.

On the other hand, the NDA government has been promoting communal polarisation through cow protection, cow transportation and such other issues. Food and dress bogey launched by the NDA government has eclipsed the real issues of poverty and hunger, the Minister said.

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy as a failure, Mr. Rai said Russia has been distancing from India because of India’s overdependence on the United States of America.

NDA, which claims to be farmer-friendly, had promised to provide minimum support price to agriculture produce. However, in its affidavit to the Supreme Court in 2015, the Union government has claimed that support price cannot be given. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme, which was a success in the UPA regime, is being neglected by the Centre, he alleged.