India needs strong leadership, not unstable coalition, to boost growth: Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the country does not need an 'unstable coalition' government and individuals who lack understanding of policies at the helm. A strong and decisive leadership is required by the nation at present to promote growth, get rid of poverty and transform the country into a developed nation, he said.
Addressing the 98th annual session of Assocham, Jaitley said swift decision-making of the Modi government has helped in handling the IL&FS crisis.
"Today, what India needs is not individuals with lack of understanding of policies, lack of understanding of directions or inherently unstable coalition, but a government and leadership with absolute clarity about the direction," Jaitley said.
He said a "strong and decisive leadership at the Centre" is needed to maintain India's high growth trajectory, increase revenue and build better infrastructure.
"India needs a government and leadership which has absolute clarity about the direction so that this unique position which IMF refers to as a sweet spot in the world, this sweet spot we continue to occupy for next two decades. If you are able to do that, we can get rid of the curse of poverty and in our lifetime probably see India as a developed country," he said.
"You need a decisive government, you need a government which has a coherent policy and is absolutely clear in the direction you have to move, and you need a government which is not dependent on those who would try to pull the government down by their strategies," Jaitley said in his video conference address.
The finance minister further said the IL&FS issue could not have been handled by a weak leadership at the Centre, the way the present government did.
Earlier this month, the government had suspended the board of debt-ridden IL&FS by appointing eminent banker Uday Kotak as its Chairman.
The decision followed loan payment default by IL&FS and its group companies.
Highlighting the challenges, the finance minister claimed the prices of global oil have increased on account of "artificial shortages" and for India.
Being a net buyer of oil, any rise in global crude prices adversely impacts the country, he said.
"Therefore, we have to face that challenge by making our economy so resilient itself that we have the capacity to bear that challenge," he added.
