Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in the Rajya Sabha yesterday and Lok Sabha today
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today launched a scathing attack on critics who have accused the Narendra Modi government of crony capitalism, ignoring the poor and mishandling the farmers' protest against the agriculture laws.
Ms Sitharaman singled out the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, whom she said was becoming a "doomsday man for India; Mr Gandhi has repeatedly attacked the centre on multiple issues, including the farmers' protest and the India-China border stand-off, in the past weeks and months.
"Who are our cronies? Our cronies are the common 'janta' (people) of this country," Ms Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha, ahead of her reply to budget-related questions.
"Where are the cronies? They're hiding probably in the shadow of that party which has been rejected by the people (a reference to the Congress). The shadows who were invited to even develop a port... they were invited. No open tenders, no global tenders," she continued.
"... these two tendencies of the Congress... makes it clear their belief in a democratic system is finished... he (Rahul Gandhi) is probably becoming a doomsday man for India," she added.
The Finance Minister also attacked Mr Gandhi and his party for "U-turns" in their support of farmers.
"I wanted to know from the Congress why it took a U-turn on the farm laws but no reply came," she said, adding that Mr Gandhi had failed to explain why Congress governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh did not waive farm loans, as promised in their manifestos.
She also criticised Mr Gandhi's understanding of the new agriculture laws, which the centre says will help farmers by allowing them to sell at markets and prices of their choice.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has frequently accused the centre of crony capitalism (File)
"Have APMCs (mandis) been closed after the introduction of the Farmers Act? He (Mr Gandhi) was speaking like they had been... They (the new laws) are also helping improve the condition of APMCs. He (Mr Gandhi) is insulting everyone... whether President, Prime Minister or Speaker... constantly lying and insulting the country," Ms Sitharaman raged.
The farmers fear the new laws mean the closure of mandis, or traditional wholesale markets. The opposition, has flagged this issue, among others, saying it will lead to large-scale job losses.
The Finance Minister also referred both to Mr Gandhi's "hum doh hamhare doh" comment about closed power networks in the government and the term "damaad" (son-in-law) in a two-for-one swipe.
"It would have been nice if he (Mr Gandhi) who talked about "hum doh hamhare doh" also talked about returning damaads returning land.. but didn't say anything about this," she said, referring to investigations into land deals involving Robert Vadra, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law.
Ms Sitharaman also defended the centre over schemes like the PM Street Vendors' Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme - which offers collateral-free loans to street vendors.
"The PM SVANidhi Yojana, for those who constantly accuse us of dealing with cronies, doesn't go to cronies. Damaads get land in states which are governed by some parties - Rajasthan, Haryana once upon a time," she said.
On Friday Ms Sitharaman launched an all-out assault on the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said it had become "a sort of habit... to constantly allege... this government works only for cronies".
"...in spite of what we are doing for the poor and the steps taken for helping the poor and needy of this country...a false narrative is created," the Finance Minister said.
Allegations of crony capitalism by the Modi government have been frequently levied by the Congress; most recently Congress MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted "Crony-jeevi is someone who is selling the country", in response to the Prime Minister's "andolan jeevi" remark in parliament.
With input from ANI