Lucknow, May 17 -- Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday alleged that the economic policies of the government have turned the nation's economy into an "anarth-vyavastha" (disastrous economy), pushing small-scale jewellers to the brink of financial ruin.
Yadav claimed that the jeweller community, already reeling under law-and-order issues, is now being systematically targeted to benefit large corporate houses at the cost of traditional small traders.
He said that the public has grown weary of the current regime's financial mismanagement.
"The policies of the BJP government have turned the country's economy into an "anarth-vyavastha", filling the lives of ordinary people with crisis. Today's jeweller says, we don't want the BJP," he said.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said the goldsmith community is facing an unprecedented crisis due to a string of detrimental government decisions.
"The issue of the security of jewellers, who are being robbed in broad daylight across Uttar Pradesh, was not even resolved yet, and then came the trade-shattering call for 'Sonabandi' (curbs on gold), followed by the decree to increase import duty on gold by two and a half times," Yadav said.
The SP chief said traditional, small-scale jewellers were already struggling to compete with corporate giants entering the jewellery market.
The new policies, he alleged, feel like a deliberate attempt to wipe them out entirely.
Linking the policy changes to alleged crony capitalism, Yadav charged that the BJP is creating a monopoly for large companies in exchange for political funding.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.