Parakala Prabhakar, husband of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and a noted political economist, in a column in The Hindu, took a jibe at the Union government over the financial situation in the country and wrote that the government is in a state of denial over economic slowdown.
Further, he said while sector after sector is ailing, the "government is yet to show signs that it has come to grips with what ails the economy." He pointed out that the problem lies in the BJP's reluctance to develop its own set of ideas about the nation's economy and added that the saffron party's "economic ideology and its articulation were limited to mainly critiquing the Nehruvian model."
Pointing out that Vajpayee government's failure to initiate significant economic policies resulted in people rejecting the party in 2004, he said the present government, instead of opting for showcasing its economic performances, chose the platform of muscular nationalism to seek re-election in 2019.
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When asked about Prabhakar's critique of her party and government, the Union finance minister said "we have done fundamental reforms" from 2014 to 2019, reports NDTV. Sitharaman reportedly listed steps taken by her government like Aadhaar and Goods and Services Tax to defend her claim.
In his article, Prabhakar noted that instead of critiquing the Nehruvian model, the saffron party should embrace the “path-breaking repositioning ushered in by P.V. Narasimha Rao and his economic amanuensis Manmohan Singh.”
"Sardar Patel...could become an icon in the BJP’s political project,” he wrote, adding, “Similarly Rao, another Congressman detested and humiliated by the dynasty, could become a robust underpinning for its economic architecture. The BJP has not challenged or rejected Rao’s 1991 architecture. A full-fledged embrace and an aggressive pursuit of it even now could provide the BJP and the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a lodestar to steer the economy out of the choppy waters it is in at present."
