‘Forced to Return’: Yashwant Sinha on Politics and National Issues

The former minister quit the BJP in 2018 and since has been a staunch critic of the Modi government at the Centre.

Yashwant Sinha joined the TMC party in the presence of senior leader, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Derek O’ Brien and Subrata Mukherjee.

(Photo: IANS)

Just weeks ahead of elections in West Bengal, former Union Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Saturday, 13 March.

“The only aim of the ruling party is to win elections, wherever they happen. The party during Atalji and the party now are very different. Atalji believed in consensus. Today's government believes in crushing," said Sinha after taking the party flag at the Trinamool headquarters in Kolkata.

In 2018, Sinha quit the BJP owing to differences with Prime Minister Modi, after a long period of criticising the latter and his policies.

Sinha, who had served as finance minister and external affairs minister under the Atal Bihar Vajpayee government, quit the BJP in 2018. Since then, he has been a staunch critic of the Modi government at the Centre.

Here is where the former minister of finance and external affairs stands on different issues:

On COVID-19 Pandemic

In the past, Sinha has criticised the Modi government over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an exclusive interview with The Quint, the former minister called the Centre’s Rs 20 lakh crore economic relief package “fraud.”

“Several experts and institutions abroad and in the country have said that out of the Rs 20 lakh crore, Rs 19 lakh crore is loan. Clearly, the people of the country are being tricked in the name of this relief package. It is clearly a fraud.”

Yashwant Sinha, Former Union Minister of Finance and External Affairs

On Migrant Labour Crisis

Sinha has been a vocal critic of the Centre’s response to the migrant crisis, even participating in a dharna at Rajghat on 18 May with AAP leader Sanjay Singh, demanding deployment of armed forces and paramilitary forces to take the migrant workers home.

“Migrant workers have been left to die. This is complete abdication of responsibility by the govt of India. Never in our history has one seen such an insensitive government. People will never forgive it for such callousness,” said Sinha, in a tweet on 8 May 2020.

Yashwant Sinha, Former Union minister

On India-China Border Crisis

In an exclusive interview with The Quint in May 2020, the former external affairs minister had said:

“China has always been an aggressor and that won’t change no matter what. China did not return to its old position even after the Doklam standoff. We talk about ‘New India’ but hide the real issues from the public.”

Yashwant Sinha, Former Union Minister of Finance and External Affairs

On Jammu & Kashmir

In an interview with The Quint on 19 September 2019, after he was forced to return to Delhi when he attempted to visit Kashmir at a time when it had been reeling under lockdown, Sinha stated that the “government is misleading the country and the world on the issue of Kashmir.”

“Even after watching what is happening in Kashmir currently, the people of the country are quiet about it. But they should also remember that what is happening in Kashmir today can happen anywhere tomorrow.”

Yashwant Sinha, Former Union Minister of Finance and External Affairs

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Sinha has been severely critical of Modi on demonetisation, jobs, GDP figures and Make in India among other policies and programmes.

According to Sinha, Modi blew a golden opportunity to send the economy soaring to new heights.

“He could have fixed the UPA’s legacy issues and fundamentally raised India from a poor country to a middle-income country, but he squandered the chance,” he says, adding his book demonstrates how “Modi unmade India.”

Yashwant Sinha, Former Union minister

“The Modi government's lasting legacy will be the catastrophe that was the demonetisation of high-denomination currency on 8 November 2016,” he argues.

On Growth and Jobs

Sinha in his book India Unmade: How the Modi Government Broke the Economy also critiqued the growth rates of the country.

He stated that the rates were seemed to have been recalibrated to make the government's economic management look good, with an average rate of 7.35 percent over its first four years.

“The jobs Modi mentioned like ‘<i>pakoda</i>’ sellers, autorickshaw drivers, tea-stall boys and newspaper deliverers are all in the informal sector and are nobody’s idea of an aspirational job.”

Yashwant Sinha, Former Union Minister of Finance and External Affairs