Government decision to replace Planning Commission 'knee-jerk, half-baked': Congress
New Delhi: Congress, on Tuesday, opposed the government's decision to replace the Planning Commission with a new body terming it a "kneejerk and half-baked decision" and favoured a "restructuring instead of dismantling" of the plan panel.
"Making an arbitrary announcement to scrap Planning Commission without putting in place an alternative model first is totally wrong. It's a kneejerk and half-baked decision. The Prime Minister should have taken on board the views of Chief Ministers before taking such a decision," party spokesperson and former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said.
"He should have called a meeting of the National Development Council to discuss it," he told reporters at the All India Congress Committee meeting.
His remarks came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally invited ideas from people on the new institution to replace the plan body taking a step further towards scrapping the Planning Commission.
When pointed out that former Finance Minister P Chidambaram had, addressing a press conference from the same AICC podium, favoured downsizing of the Planning Commission, Sharma said, "There is a difference between restructuring and dismantling."
He said that it was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at whose initiative a plan to restructure the plan panel was initiated and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia had prepared a 15-page note on it.
Chidambaram had in June said that his personal view is the Planning Commission should be a much more limited body tasked with drawing up prospective plans as at the moment it is "too big, flabby and unwieldy".
Sharma said that Modi frequently talks about federal issues and respecting states and hence in this issue, he should have first taken their suggestions.
"He has done exactly the opposite by unilaterally announcing a decision to replace the plan panel without seeking the views of the states," Sharma said.
Wondering how can such an announcement be made even before the structure of the new organisation is to be decided, Sharma noted that Modi is still seeking view of people on the issue on the new structure to replace Planning Commission.
Justifying the need to replace the Commission, the Prime Minister had said in his Independence Day speech, "Sometimes it becomes necessary to repair a house. It costs a lot of money. But it does not give us satisfaction. Then we feel it is better to make a new house."
Sharma, however, said that he has heard that the Planning Commission will be replaced by a think tank-like body headed by Modi himself. He also drew a parallel from China replacing its Planning Commission with National Development and Reform Commission, where all decisions are "driven by the ruling Communist Party's politburo".
"We strongly object to the manner in which these decisions are being taken," Sharma said, alleging that the Modi government is showing "apathy and aversion" to Jawaharlal Nehru and Nehruvian vision.
He also said that there was no proposal before the Union Cabinet during the UPA regime to scrap the Planning Commission.
