Chandigarh, Jul 14: Efforts to get back to the high growth path were “not a matter of rhetoric of politics” and the government was addressing the issue under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's leadership, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said.
“Once we will address the issues, which the Prime Minister has rightly identified, we will get back to the high growth path,” he told reporters here.
His remarks came against the backdrop of the opposition attacking the Prime Minister and a top US magazine dubbing him as an “underachiever”.
Chidambaram said, “Please remember, it is this Prime Minister who as Finance Minister put India on the path of liberalisation and growth (in early ‘90s), it is this Prime Minister during whose time from 2004-09 the country witnessed unprecedented growth rate of 8.5 per cent.
“It is this Prime Minister who designed the package that helped India get over the international financial crisis in 2008-09,” he said.
Exuding confidence that Indian economy will be back to the high growth trajectory, he said, “I am extremely confident that India will get back to the high growth path.... I will urge you to share my confidence.”
Chidambaram noted that with the Prime Minister now handling the Finance Minister portfolio, he would take measures to put the economy on high growth trajectory.
“The Prime Minister has now taken over the finance portfolio. I can assure you that he will be taking a number of measures to address these issues. I am absolutely confident that we will bounce back to higher growth,” he said.
“We need to address among other issues, savings, investment - both domestic and foreign, fiscal deficit and current account deficit,” he said.
He downplayed a question whether the finance portfolio he once handled will come back to him again, saying, “I cannot predict future, I am not an astrologer.”
