Congress’ economic agenda seeks to derail India’s economic growth trajectory: Milind Deora

Milind Deora criticizes Congress for divisive economic agenda, moving away from its legacy, and opposing Article 370 abrogation.

Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Milind Deora has claimed that the Congress, which once ushered in economic reforms, currently has a divisive economic agenda which seeks to derail India's economic growth trajectory.

In an interview to PTI, Mr. Deora said the Congress was a centrist party but it "veered very, very Left" and talks about policies that have failed around the world when the party should be talking about policies which can fuel innovation and investment.

The economic reforms of 1991, the Congress' policies of the previous 60 or 70 years, facilitated the creation of businessmen and wealth creators, he noted.

Now the Congress party is trying to "name call them, abuse them, criticise them", the former Union Minister claimed. "It is a symptom of the fact that the Congress is moving away from its own legacy," he said.

"The Congress had an economic agenda to take India forward. Today, I find the Congress has an economic agenda which is divisive, that seeks to derail India's economic growth trajectory, which when India is faced with a really interesting and exciting tailwind where much of the world wants to diverse from China and invest in India," he said.

"We should be taking advantage of that," he said.

Mr. Deora, a Lok Sabha member from South Mumbai from 2004-2014, and served as a Union minister in the Manmohan Singh government. He quit the grand old party in January this year and joined the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.