Nehru's independence day speech responsible for inflation: BJP Minister

Madhya Pradesh Minister for Medical Education Vishvas Sarang on Saturday said that the problem of inflation did not arise in a day or two but due to the mistakes of Jawaharlal Nehru's speech from the Red Fort on August 15, 1947.

Inflation would have been under control had the first prime minister of the country and his party left the economy in good shape, Sarang said. Sarang was talking to reporters in Bhopal over the protest planned by the Congress on rising prices and other issues.

"If the credit for increasing inflation by crippling the economy after the country's independence goes to anyone, it is the Nehru family".

"Inflation does not rise in a day or two. The foundation of the economy is not laid in a day or two. The country's economy has deteriorated due to the mistakes of the speech that Jawaharlal Nehru delivered from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 1947," the BJP leader said.

He further added that Narendra Modi has strengthened the economy in the past seven years. Inflation is down, and people's incomes have increased under the BJP. Congress should, hence, protest in front of 10 Janpath or party President Sonia Gandhi's residence, he added.

Sarang also alleged that Nehru neglected that the country's economy was primarily based on agriculture and his 'western' policies were responsible for the present situation. "Seventy per cent of our population is dependent on agriculture, but he did not care about this sector. The village economy was sustainable and self-reliant. He put his western mindset in this and ended the village economy," he said. Industrialisation must have been based on agriculture, he added.

The Kashmir dispute, internal security and cross-border issues have weakened our economy, and they date back to Nehru's times, he alleged. A river-linking project was also proposed by Nehru, he claimed.

"The implementation of the river interlinking project then would have brightened the country's future permanently...the country, which is dependent on agriculture, would have become fully irrigated," he added.

"Inflation would have been under control, had the Congress and Nehru left the economy in good shape and industrialisation been based on agriculture," the BJP leader said.

The Congress, however, has slammed the comments. "Vishwas Sarang, an eligible minister of Shivraj's (Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan) circus, is blaming the country's inflation on Nehru's speech in 1947, when he was not even born. As a departmental (health) minister, can you state if Nehru was also responsible for the thousands of deaths due to lack of beds, oxygen and Remdesivir during the coronavirus pandemic?" Congress spokesperson KK Mishra said.

Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said the BJP ministry in Madhya Pradesh was full of weird people. "A minister starts climbing up an electricity poll to repair it, another talks about how many children a couple should have, yet another says that money should be charged for a selfie. Now, a minister is holding a speech delivered 75 years ago responsible for inflation. Why did the BJP then promise relief from inflation in its poll campaign?" he asked.