Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday blamed the freight equalisation policies of the successive Congress governments at the Centre for North India lagging behind in development.
He was reacting to Congress MP DK Suresh’s recent remark that southern states of the country will raise a demand for a separate country if the Centre ‘continues the trend’ of not releasing funds for them. Suresh said this after Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Interim Budget in Parliament on Thursday.
“It is also necessary for the people of India today, especially in North India, to know why it is that North India has lagged behind South India in development,” Chandrasekhar said while talking ANI.
“The answer to that is, from 1952 under the Congress till 1995, almost 40 years, the Congress government pursued a freight equalisation policy that made it absolutely no incentive for companies to invest in Jharkhand, to invest in Bihar, to invest in the north of India,” he said.
The Union Minister said that people from states like Jharkhand and Bihar should be asking Congress why this policy was pursued.
“South India garnered all the investments because of the freight equalisation policy. So if anything, today the people of states like Jharkhand and people of states like Bihar should be asking Congress, Why did you do this to us for 50-55 years?” He said.
“Now MPs from the Congress in the south are saying we should not help north India. So this is the hypocrisy of the Congress. This is the double speak of the Congress that one leader talks about jodo, another leader talks about ‘todo’,” he added, referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Chandrasekhar further said that DK Suresh’s remark should anger every Indian.
“This is an issue that certainly every Indian should be angry about. The Congress party today, under Rahul Gandhi, sets out to do the so-called Jodo yatra and tries to fool people about his Jodo yatra. You have senior leaders talking about dividing India and seceding South India from North India,” he said.
Congress MP DK Suresh stoked the controversy after Sitharaman presented the interim budget.
“The Centre is not properly giving the right share of GST and direct taxes to South Indian states. The South Indian states are facing injustice. The money collected from southern states is being given to North Indian states. If this continues, we will be forced to demand a separate country,” Suresh had said.
He further threatened to raise a demand for a separate country if the trend continues.
“The centre is getting over Rs 4 lakh crore from us and what we are getting in return is negligible. We have to question this. If this is not rectified, all southern states have to raise their voices demanding a separate nation,” he said.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
