'You sell dreams, we deliver': FM counters Oppn

In a trilingual speech, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday spoke of the Narendra Modi government's track record in managing the economy and ability to deliver, even as she responded strongly (and politically) to points previously raised by speakers in the debate on the no-confidence motion.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

She emphasised that her government's approach-"empowering all and appeasing none" is how she described it and its economic policies have not just acted as a shield against the global economic devastations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but also made India the fastest growing major economy in the world. In contrast, she painted the period between 2004 and 2014, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance governed India as the country's "lost decade".

Sitharaman accused the UPA of making false promises of eradicating poverty, providing houses and toilets to the poor, ensuring universal access to drinking water, healthcare facilities, electricity connections, rural roads, banking facilities and ensuring easy institutional credit facilities to farmers and small enterprises. Everything was a promise, she explained something that could happen in the future during the NDA regime.