'India on Sale': Rahul Gandhi lashes out at Centre over National Monetisation Pipeline scheme

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (August 25) made a scathing attack on the Central government over the proposed National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) and accused the Narendra Modi-led Centre of putting “India on sale". 

Taking to Twitter, the Congress MP wrote, “First they sold faith and now #IndiaOnSale."

सबसे पहले ईमान बेचा और अब…#IndiaOnSale — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 25, 2021

On Tuesday, Gandhi slammed the Central government for its decision to monetise its assets across key sectors and called the National Monetisation Pipeline a  "huge tragedy". Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Gandhi accused the Centre of mishandling the economy. 

"What this country has built over the last 70 years, is being given away. There is an excuse they have come up with that we are leasing these. The government clearly mishandled the economy and doesn't know what to do,” ANI quoted him as saying. 

Upping the attack, he added. "The BJP and PM Modi say nothing happened in the last 70 years. But yesterday, the finance minister decided to sell the assets that have been built over the last 70 years. They (the government) have basically destroyed what the UPA built and now as a last resort, they are selling everything that we had helped create. To me, this is a huge tragedy.”

Gandhi’s remark comes in the backdrop of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiling a Rs 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) that included unlocking value by involving private companies across infrastructure sectors -- from passenger trains and railway stations to airports, roads and stadiums. The government plans to monetise assets-- including 25 Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports, those at Chennai, Bhopal, Varanasi and Vadodara, as well as 40 railway stations, 15 railway stadiums and an unidentified number of railway colonies have been identified for getting private investments-- over a four-year period, from Financial Year 2022 to Financial Year 2025. 

(With agency inputs)

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