The discussion on electoral freebies and the promises made by states ahead of elections has surfaced as a topic of much interest especially after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's statement. The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also joined the debate stating that some leaders were giving a perverse twist to the larger debate.
The finance minister told media that the Delhi Chief Minister had given perverse twist to the debate on freebies.
"Health and education have never been called freebies...No Indian government (since independence) has ever denied them," she said.
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister in a video conference address stated that the act of offering freebies is not in the interest of the taxpayers and will set the nation back.
“As a country, we have to take a pledge that we will not allow such tendencies to grow. This is a collective responsibility of the country,” Modi stated earlier this week in an address while inaugurating a modern ethanol plant of Indian Oil Corporation.
The Supreme Court also weighed in adding that the government must form an expert committee to analyse the freebies doled out by various state governments as electoral promises, ultimately costing the exchequer dearly.
Responding to statements by the Delhi Chief Minister, the Finance Minister added that by classifying education and health as freebies, Kerjiwal is trying to bring in a sense of worry and fear in minds of poor, she said.
"There should be a genuine debate on this matter," she concluded.
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