Nirmala Sitharaman continues to spar with UPA predecessors as India struggles through bleak times

WASHINGTON: Stewards of India’s economy over the past 15 years continued to spar over who is responsible for the current economic troubles in the country, with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman exchanging barbs with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid a global slowdown that has not spared India.
A visibly tetchy finance minister bristled at the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's jab that her government was obsessed with blaming others for the slowdown instead of finding ways of fixing economy, saying there was nothing wrong with recalling the mess created during his tenure.
“I don't need to put the blame — it’s more than apparent as to when the wrongdoings happened in the banks and which is the government which is spending time to clear the clog from the public sector banks and which is the government which is pursuing all those who have taken money during the UPA government and who have gone out of the country for fear,” Sitharaman said at a short interaction with journalist that was notable for her sharp, curt responses.
“Recalling when and what went wrong during a certain period is absolutely necessary to put it in context,” the finance minister said, grimacing in response to Singh’s criticism of her remarks at an event in Columbia University where she dwelt on the problems her government had inherited, particularly in the banking sector.
She then doubled down on attacking the UPA government for its purported crony capitalism, saying “we have not given any loans to cronies, we have never supported any wrong-doings and looked the other way” as the former prime minister had done.
Her remarks came on the sidelines of the annual World Bank-IMF gathering where forecast of India’s economic growth was scaled down to a little over 6 per cent in line with the global slowdown. Sitharaman though took comfort in the fact that India remained among the fastest growing economies even in the context of a global slowdown, although she declined to identify any “green shoots” she saw in response to the stimulus her ministry has rolled out in recent weeks.
“At this stage it’s my duty to hear every sector and respond as much as they would want us to respond from the government side....to go on listening and making sure that their grievances or their demands are addressed,” she said.
Asked if there was any proposal to lower personal income tax rates as is being speculated in some quarters, she said “You will get to know if there is any,” without ruling out the possibility.
The finance minister was also circumspect about prospects of a trade deal with the US, saying “I know the intensity with which the negotiations are going on …some differences are being sorted out.”
She has earlier maintained that New Delhi could not sacrifice its sovereign right to strengthen its economy to comply with sundry US sanctions, arguing that if India is to be a strategic partner to the United States, then Washington should want India to be strengthened, not weakened.
Some of these issues are expected to figure in her dialogue with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is also expected to visit India shortly at a time of immense turmoil in Trump administration.