Jaitley takes a dig at Left front, showers praises on Modi’s Bandhan plans

By NewsGram Staff Writer

In a move to allay fears of anti-growth policies, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday, apart from taking a swipe at the left government, said that political differences will not come in the way of developing West Bengal and promised full cooperation to state.

Speaking at the launch of the Bandhan Bank, Jaitley attacked obsolete policies for stalling growth in the eastern region and iterated that breaking away from obsolete policies was imperative to lead to the development of the entire country.

During the global business summit in January, Jaitley had categorically stated that the party to which he belonged and the party which ruled the state were strongly opposed to anti-development policies and that that probably would continue.

"In terms of development of the country and the state, the political difference will not matter, and we will fully cooperate in the development and growth of West Bengal.

I do not have the least doubts that with the cooperation between the centre and the state, we will work together towards the advance growth rate which eventually enables us to bring prosperity," said the BJP leader.

Jaitley also took a pot-shot at the erstwhile Left Front government which ran the state from 1977 to 2011.

"I recollect my days from the younger years when I used to see this city painted red. And when it was painted red, of course new institutions were not being born.

The existing ones were shifting out and West Bengal, which was known not for producing many entrepreneurs but certainly known for producing intellectuals, even (Bandhan bank chairman) Ashok Lahiri and (state finance minister) Amit Mitra had shifted out," said Jaitley.

Meanwhile, Jaitley lauded the new initiative undertaken by the Central government in the country.

"A great institution is being born in West Bengal. What is most important is the birth of a Bengal entrepreneur, which is of utmost importance for the revival and growth of the fundamentals of Bengal," said Jaitley, referring to calls for entrepreneurship by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I recollect my days from the younger years when I used to see this city painted red. And when it was painted red, of course new institutions were not being born," said the BJP leader.

Jaitley also emphasized the need to create more academic institutions of repute and restoring the older ones back to their excellence.

"Odisha and Bengal have lot of mineral resource, natural wealth, north east has oil and gas and therefore for the growth of this region you have the fundamentals which are present here.

"It is a break from some of the obsolete policies of the past and realization of potential of the area which are of extreme importance," he said.