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Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Narayan Rane could not have chosen a worse timing or venue for his statement on Monday that India might see recession towards mid-year.
The minister who often courts controversy with his statements said this at a time that the Centre is readying for the Union Budget, and the government has been pains to stress that India has beaten the trend of global economic downturn. Besides, Rane was speaking after delivering the inaugural speech at a programme related to G20 – the Modi government is celebrating the annual G20 presidency that has come to India as a showpiece event.
“There is a global recession and it is in many countries. This is what I have gathered from discussions at meetings of the Union government. The recession is expected to hit India after June,” Rane said, while speaking to the media after the G20 event in Pune, adding that the government was working towards lessening its impact.
On Tuesday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shot back on Twitter: “Narayan Rane, Union Cabinet Minister of MSMEs – that have been destroyed since 2014 — forecasts recession in India after 6 months. He said this in Pune to a G20 gathering. What are the PM & FM hiding from the country?”
A senior BJP leader requesting anonymity said Rane’s remarks are also embarrassing for the party as they coincide with the BJP national executive meeting in Delhi. On Tuesday, the socio-economic resolution passed by the party at the meeting celebrated India emerging as “the fifth largest economy in the world”. “By revealing that the Cabinet has concerns over the economic situation, Rane has given the Opposition a major issue to question the government,” the BJP leader said.
Besides, Rane’s recession remarks coincide with the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos, Switzerland. Among those attending from India is Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, trying to sell the state as an investment destination.
While saying that he would not speak of politics as it was not his forte, Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries Chairperson Milind Kamble told The Indian Express, “As a member of G20, I can confidently state that global recession is not going to cast an adverse shadow on India. This is evident from the parameters where we have majored. Our inflation index is under control at 4-4.5%. We have already returned to the pre-Covid situation, which has given a big boost to the economy… While China is confronting the Covid pandemic still and Europe is facing an energy crisis, India is steady and on the march,” Kamble said.
He added that rather than a downturn, India might profit now due to the problems plaguing Europe and China.
Rane’s colleagues in the BJP said that while his aggressiveness was his strength when fighting the Opposition, “his remarks on the economic situation may land him in a soup” now.
A Shiv Sena leader who was considered a confidant of Bal Thackeray, Rane, now 70, was chosen to head the Sena-BJP coalition government in Maharashtra in 1999. In 2005, after he was expelled from the Sena on charges of anti-party activities, he joined the Congress and became a Cabinet minister in 2005. In 2017, Rane quit the Congress, and a year later, joined the BJP.
A Rajya Sabha MP, he was inducted as Union MSME Minister in July 2021.
As one of the most aggressive voices in the BJP-Shinde Sena camp, Rane has been in the forefront attacking Uddhav Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya.
Recently, he has been caught in an ugly war of words with Uddhav Sena MP and an equally aggressive leader, Sanjay Raut. Threatening to “expose” Raut, Rane said: “I will meet and tell Uddhav Thackeray what Raut speaks about him and his wife Rashmi Thackeray in private. Uddhav Thackeray will beat Raut with chappals.” Raut dismissed Rane’s threat as ramblings of a mad man, and claimed that he was set to lose his Cabinet berth.
With a Union Cabinet reshuffle expected soon, some believe Raut may not have been off the mark. According to sources, the BJP leadership is not too happy with his work as MSME minister. With many having opposed his induction in the BJP as well, a leader said: “In the Modi-Shah government, performance matters. Whether in party or government, everybody has to complete their given task.”
