NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharamans’s remarks about the rupee’s value vis-a-vis the dollar have sparked off a war of words between the BJP and the Congress. While the Congress has mocked and criticised the minister’s remarks, the BJP has countered it and defended their party leader.
The finance minister, who is on an official tour of the US, was asked during a meet about the weakening of the rupee against the dollar. She was asked: “Just earlier this week, the Indian rupee traded a bit weaker as geo-political tensions continue to build up. What is your assessment of the challenges that the rupee could see in the days ahead and what measures are being taken to tackle the slippery slide?”
Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks
In her response, Sitharaman said, “First of all, I would look at it as not rupee sliding and look at it as dollar strengthening, dollar strengthening incessantly. So obviously all other currencies are performing against the strengthening dollar. And I am not talking technicalities but it is a matter of fact that India's rupee probably has withstood this dollar rates going up, the exchange rate in favour of dollar strengthening is there and I think Indian rupee has performed much better than many other emerging market currencies.
“But I think the efforts are by the RBI more towards maintaining a certain, let's say, more towards seeing that there are not too much of volatility. It is not to intervene in the market to fix the value of the rupee. So, containing the volatility is the only exercise that RBI is involved in. And, I have said this before, the rupee will find its own level,” the finance minister said.
Congress criticises Sitharaman
The Congress leaders took pot-shots and criticised Sitharaman’s remarks.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a march as part of Bharat Jodo Yatra, said, “India ranks 107th out of 121 countries in hunger and malnutrition! Now the prime minister and his ministers will say, ‘Hunger is not increasing in India, but people are not feeling hungry in other countries’. For how long will RSS-BJP work to weaken India by misleading the public from reality?"
In a detailed response, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh sought to debunk the finance minister’s stand on rupee versus dollar.
In a video post in Hindi on Twitter, Vallabh said, “When Modi had taken over as PM, one dollar was equivalent to Rs 58.43 which today is Rs 82.32. This means that compared to the dollar, the rupee has depreciated by 41 per cent in the last eight years. But you are saying that the rupee is not falling but the dollar is increasing.”
He said, “Sometimes you say that you cannot do anything about the prices of onions because you do not eat onions. Your wrong policies have turned our country's demographic dividend into a demographic disaster. I want to ask you whether employment opportunities have increased by 41 per cent in the last eight years? Has there been an increase of 41 per cent in people's income? But the dollar is available for 41 per cent more as compared with rupee.”
Vallabh said when the rupee's value depreciates, the price of crude oil increases.
“Then you will say what could you do, this is dynamic pricing and it has increased in the international market. We increase the prices because we import 85 per cent of petrol and diesel. We import half of the country's needs for LPG. We import 60-65 per cent of the components of electronic equipment.”
He said, therefore, because of the Modi government’s faulty prices, petrol, diesel, gas, LPG, mobile phone, TV, fridge, computer and other electronic gadgets will become costlier.
“In addition to these, the spendings of middle-income group people who send their children abroad for higher studies will increase. Till when do we bear with your ineptitude and faulty policies?” he finally said.
Another party spokesperson took a dig at Sitharaman and commented: “She (Sitharaman) has even beaten 'entire political science'. The rupee is not weak, the dollar is getting stronger!”
BJP counters Congress
The BJP accused the Congress of distorting Sitharaman’s remarks and quoting them out of context. It pointed out that the finance minister had clearly said that the rupee had performed much better than many other emerging market currencies.
BJP leader co-in-charge of West Bengal Amit Malviya said, “People who can’t do basic maths are commenting on rupee-dollar, which is far too complex for their tiny brains, and deliberately reading FM’s statement out of context. She clearly said, ‘The Indian rupee has performed much better than many other emerging market currencies.'”
Malviya added: “‘Weakening of Rupee’ was seen in 2009-14, during Congress’s inept rule, which had resulted in poor macro indicators, making India a fragile economy. Weak GDP growth, weak capital inflows, high double-digit inflation, high deficits, slowing exports and stalling reforms.”
