After PM Modi's austerity appeals, Raisina Hill responds to Oppn barbs, cites historical references

AT a clip when oppositeness parties ar taking potshots at ground government minister Narendra Modi's call for austerity measures in view of the US-Iran war in West Asia and its impact on India, the BJP-led government has turned back the clock on the Congress to remind them of similar measures undertaken several times since Independence.PM Modi had on Sunday appealed to Indians to reduce fuel consumption and not buy any gold for a year, among other things. The Congress and other opposition parties criticised the Prime Minister for his call, with the leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi, calling the appeals “proofs of failure”.BJP’s response to PM Modi criticismGold appeal: Responding to the criticism of PM Modi’s appeal on gold purchases, sources in the government invoked former PM Jawaharlal Nehru and his appeal on gold donation in view of the 1962 war with China.“Jawaharlal Nehru did not merely appeal to citizens to reduce gold purchases. He launched a nationwide campaign asking Indians to physically donate their gold jewellery to the national war chest,” they said, calling it “a mass mobilisation of personal wealth during a national crisis".BJP sources also cited what they called the Congress government’s “gold crackdown”. The sources mentioned that the Gold Control Act of 1962, which was reissued in 1968, imposed sweeping restrictions on gold ownership in India.“By 1963, producing jewellery above 14 carat fineness was a criminal act. Citizens were legally prohibited from owning gold bars or coins. Not discouraged. Prohibited. Goldsmiths could hold no more than 100 grams at any time. Licensed dealers were banned from trading with each other,” the sources stated. They also cited a 1966 statement from then PM Indira Gandhi, in which she had said that India’s gold-buying habit drains foreign reserves. They also pointed towards former finance minister P Chidambaram’s “four desperate appeals” on gold in 2013.Cooking oil reduction: The BJP response to criticism on PM Narendra Modi’s appeal to Indians on reducing cooking oil use is to remind them about appeals made by several Congress PMs, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri, to skip meals amid food crisis, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also pointed out.Nehru had appealed to the northern states to abstain from rice amid a food shortage in the 1950s, and Shastri had asked Indians to skip a meal every Monday during the 1965 war with Pakistan. To be sure, India was a newly independent country in the early 1950s and was not yet self-sufficient in food, while 1965 was a wartime situation.Reduction in petrol and diesel consumption: Malviya and others in the BJP have pointed out a statement by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on increasing fuel bill subsidy while the international oil prices had shot up dramatically.“Where will we find the money for this? Money does not grow on trees,” Singh had said.