Regarding the nation’s public sector banks (PSB), a verbal sparring match broke out between Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. Sitharaman attacked Rahul Gandhi, claiming that the Congress-led UPA government regarded public banks as “ATMs for their cronies and shady businessmen” while the BJP-led Centre utilised PSBs as an endless supply of money for “fraudulent friends.”
Earlier in the day, a delegation from the All India Banking Officers Confederation “expressed their distress at the state of our public sector banks and the impact of it on common people,” according to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
“Public Sector Banks were designed to give every Indian access to credit. The Modi government has turned these lifelines of the masses into private financiers for only the rich and powerful corporations,” he tweeted.
The Congress MP also said that PSBs were being pressured to put profit before of people and that they were expected to meet unrealistic goals in spite of a poisonous workplace and a lack of employees.
According to him, women employees were deprived of equal opportunities and prospects for growth, and they were made to take the brunt of the public’s discontent.
“The Modi government must stop using PSBs as an unlimited source of funds for their fraudulent friends. There’s also more to a public sector bank than a dividend cheque to the government at the end of the year,” Rahul Gandhi added.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman disputed Rahul Gandhi’s “baseless” accusations, claiming that PM Modi has led to a “remarkable turnaround” in the nation’s banking industry, particularly in PSBs.
She asserted that the substantial decline in PSBs was caused by the Congress-led UPA regime’s high concentration of corporate credit and indiscriminate lending.
“It was actually during the UPA regime when bank employees were harassed and forced to give loans to cronies through ‘phone banking’ by the then Congress-led UPA Govt functionaries,” the Union Minister added.
Continuing her attack against Rahul Gandhi, Sitharaman said the public also has shareholding in the PSBs. “Citizen centric governance and inclusive development is the core principle of Modi government.”
The Finance Minister continued by praising a few of the Center’s programs, stating that women made up 68% of the beneficiaries of the PM-MUDRA and 44% of the recipients of the PM-SVANidhi schemes.
Additionally, she disclosed that although loans up to Rs 10 lakh have risen by 238% over the past ten years, loans up to Rs 50 lakh have also climbed by 300% during same time.
“The diligent PSB workers and the people who gain from a more robust and clean banking system are insulted by Rahul Gandhi’s falsification of the facts. It’s imperative that the Congress improve the LOP’s comprehension of government,” Sitharaman continued.
