UPA had paralyzed the country, NDA took it on path of development: BJP's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri

New Delhi [India], February 10 (ANI): Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that the strength the NDA government has provided to the country on the economic platform is unique.

During the UPA government, the country was stuck in economic crisis, the administration was completely paralyzed, corruption was at its peak and due to corruption, the public's trust in the government was completely shaken, Bidhuri said speaking at a press conference in Delhi.

The Leader of Opposition also said that India's image and influence in the world was continuously decreasing. In the last ten years, the country has progressed rapidly and has set new benchmark in every field, he added.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Anil Gupta coordinated the press conference.

Speaking on the white paper brought by the BJP government on the UPA government tenure, Bidhuri said that during the UPA government, echoes of some new scams were heard every day.

"Coal Allocation Scam, Commonwealth Games Scam, 2G Telecom Scam, Sharda Chitfund Scam, INX Media Scam, Aircel Scam, Antrix-Dewas Deal, Land for Job Scam, Land Scam in Panchkula and Gurugram, Hawk Aircraft Purchase Scam, Adarsh Housing Society Scam and AgustaWestland helicopter scam," he listed out.

Leaders of ruling Congress and UPA allies were found involved in these scams but the government appeared helpless, Bidhuri said adding that the UPA government put the country at stake to save its existence.

Bidhuri said that the white paper presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha related to the Indian economy before 2014 talks about the economic mismanagement of the UPA government.

The then government completely failed in running the economic activities smoothly, he said adding that instead of taking the country forward, the decisions taken by the government took it further backward.

Bidhuri said that Vajpayee government gave strong economic condition to UPA government, but when it left the rule after ten years, the country's economy was in a very bad condition.

"The country was surrounded by debts. Inflation had remained in double digits continuously for five years. Due to the weak economic condition of the country and unstable government, no one was taking the risk of investment. Forget about foreign investors, even Indian industrialists were hesitant in investing," he said.

Bidhuri compared the ten years of the UPA government with the NDA government led by Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said that when the NDA government took power in 2014, the economy was not only in a bad shape but was in crisis.

"We were faced with the complex challenge of repairing an economy that had been weak for a decade. Then we were one of the five most fragile economies in the world, today we are going to become the third largest economy in the world. At that time the world had lost confidence in India's economic potential and dynamism. Now, our economic stability and growth are raising hopes for India all over the world," he said.

Bidhuri said that during the UPA regime, India's credibility was ruined when we could not organize the Commonwealth Games properly, whereas the NDA government made India proud by successfully organizing the year-long G-20 summit in 2023.

"Then, the inflation rate in our country was in double digits; Now, inflation has been reduced to around 5 percent. Then, we had a foreign exchange crisis and now, we have record foreign exchange reserves of over US$620 billion. Then, we were struggling with policy paralysis, now we are developing rapidly," he said.

The Leader of Opposition said that India has made immense progress in every field.

"Then electronics exports were 7.6 billion dollars, today exports have increased to 22.7 billion dollars. Foreign investment then was $305 billion and today it is $596.5 billion. Then 29 percent of the people were below the poverty line, now only 11 percent is left. Then there were only 350 start ups, today there are more than 1 lakh 17 thousand," Bidhuri said.

"Then there were only five metro cities, today there are 20. Then the national highway was 25.7 thousand km long. But in just ten years it become more than doubled to about 55 thousand km. The average number of rail accidents then was 233, now it is only 34. The average waiting time at toll plazas has come down from 12.2 minutes to just 47 seconds," he said.

"The Energy capacity has increased from 249 GW to 429 GW. At that time electricity was available on an average for 12 hours, now it has become 20 hours. The number of airports has increased from 74 to 149. Medical colleges have also increased from 387 to 706. The number of universities has increased from 676 to 1168. LPG connections have increased from 14.5 crore to 31.4 crore and PNG connections have increased from 22.3 lakh to 1.19 crore. Water connections have also increased from 3.2 crore to 13.8 crore in ten years. The number of broadband users has increased from 6 crore to 90 crore," he added.

Bidhuri said that these figures tell the story of the failure of the UPA government and the success of the NDA government.

"UPA had put the country in the dark and now under the leadership of PM Modi, India's voice is being heard all over the world," he said. (ANI)