Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday slammed the BJP government at the Centre for what he called undermining the spirit of federalism and also warned that communal madness will cause great harm to the country.
Speaking in the State Assembly, he trained guns on the Narendra Modi government for taking away the powers of the states and said this would create many problems in future.
Voicing concern over the policies being adopted by the Centre to take away the powers of the states, he said all state legislatures should debate and condemn this. He said though the Constitution describes India as a union of states, the policies adopted by the present government at the Centre is damaging the federal setup.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, voiced concern over growing communalism and an atmosphere of hatred in the country saying this is not good for the country.
Citing statistics, he said the country’s economic performance during the last seven years has been disastrous. The growth rate has come down to 6 per cent from 8 per cent during the UPA rule, the unemployment rate has gone up from 4.7 per cent to 7.11 per cent, and over 5 lakh industrial units have been shut down.
“Only communalism and mob attacks have increased,” he remarked and warned that if this continues the country will be in danger as people will lose employment opportunities and investments will not come. He said the dangerous situation had already started unfolding.
Stating that politics is much beyond votes and seats, he said whipping up communal passions and spreading hate may give some political mileage in the short term but the country will suffer in the long run.
KCR said the ecosystem built over the hardwork of decades will be damaged with the attempts to divide people in the name of religion and pitting one section of people against the other.
Referring to the Hijab row in Karnataka, the Chief Minister said that it is for people to decide what they want to wear. “Some people wear shirts, some wear waistcoats, dhoti or sherwani. How is government concerned with this. Why make it such a big issue that people fight against each other. Where are we heading,” he asked.
Stating that Bengaluru developed as Silicon Valley of India with the hard work of many decades, he said the IT sector there provides employment to 30 lakh people and warned that communal disturbances threaten to undo all this development.
He recalled that people voted for the BJP as the performance was not good but under the BJP, the country has crashed and its economy is in worse situation than what it was earlier.
He said the decline in the financial progress of the country took place much before Covid-19 pandemic.
KCR said during the same period of seven years, Telangana’s growth has been much better than that of the Centre. He said Telangana’s GSDP grew from Rs. 4.5 lakh crore to Rs 12.5 lakh crore and its growth rate was 38.7 per cent higher than the growth rate of the Centre.
Stating that the Centre’s poor performance impacted, he said had the Centre performed at par with Telangana, the state’s GSDP would have been Rs 14.3 lakh crore.
KCR said the dream of a $5 trillion economy will remain a dream. “Today, the Indian economy is $3.1 trillion. If it has to become $5 trillion, the country needs 16 per cent growth rate. With mere 6 per cent growth GDP this will definitely remain an Eastman colour dream. It will never become a reality,” he said.
The TRS chief dismissed the talk of “double-engine” growth, or the growth achieved when the same party is in power in the state and at the Centre. With statistics comparing Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, he dismissed the slogan being raised in the wake of the BJP retaining power in Uttar Pradesh in the recent elections.
“The per capita income of Telangana is Rs 2.78 lakh while per capita income of Uttar Pradesh with double engine growth is only Rs 71,000. Do you know where Uttar Pradesh ranks among states. Last but one,” he said amid slogans of “shame, shame” by TRS legislators.
He said from 2017 to 2021, the double engine growth rate in Uttar Pradesh was 25.69 per cent while single-engine Telangana’s growth rate was 55.46 per cent. “This is not a double-engine. This is trouble engine,” he quipped.
