Modi, Rahul must end it: Gujral

Jalandhar

Rajya Sabha MP and NDA spokesperson Naresh Gujral today said he personally felt that the mudslinging attacks and counter-attacks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AICC chief Rahul Gandhi were distasteful and should not have happened.

“Both must realise they are not enemies. They are just opponents. Tomorrow they will again sit in the new Parliament to run the nation and make laws. While Rahul Gandhi has no right to say ‘PM chor hai’, our PM too is going somewhat overboard.”

Known for his straight-talk, Gujral, when asked about Modi’s attack against former PM Rajiv Gandhi, said, “Everyone knows what happened in 1984. But I personally feel we should never criticise the dead. That is a tradition in our country.”

On the changing trends in electioneering, he narrated an incident of 1989, “When my father (former PM IK Gujral) contested from Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat, his then opponent was Major General Rajinder Singh Sparrow. Soon after the elections were over, my dad became Foreign Minister. Major General Sparrow approached him and said that he has a diplomatic passport and he could retain it only with his approval. My father readily issued the passport. So, my personal belief is that even if an election is being fought, the opponents should never go so personal.”

Having headed the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Commerce, Gujral says he is unconvinced with the Nyay scheme being mooted by the Congress.

“In the recent interim budget that was passed, the country’s income was pegged at Rs 19 lakh crore and expenditure at Rs 27 lakh crore. There is a gap of Rs 8 lakh crore. An amount of Rs 80,000 crore was short-received for 2018-19. So, there is a deficit of Rs 8.8 lakh crore. UPA says it will spend Rs 4 lakh crore by implementing Nyay.”

Elaborating, he said, “The UNDP report last month said that 29 per cent of the country’s population is from Below Poverty Line and about 19 per cent more people are ‘vulnerable’ of falling among BPL. So, by these figures, we need to spend Rs 8 lakh crore on Nyay. This way, we will fall short of Rs 16.8 lakh crore. Can they cut on health, education, salaries, MNREGA or defence expenses? We will go the Venezuela way. We are not a rich nation to afford this scheme. We must realise that all economies which were spendthrift have got ruined.”