'Recklessness in public spending must be discouraged': FM Sitharaman on pre-poll freebie promises 

Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister of India. (File: PTI)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday disapproved of political parties lining up promises of freebies ahead of elections and stressed on the need to ensure that such recklessness in dealing with public finances is discouraged.

Speaking to Network 18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, the Finance Minister said that it was one thing to have a scheme ready and have it accounted for and another to scramble to resources and then blame the Centre for it.

"I think I speak for all Finance Ministers. It is a very difficult thing. To have a scheme approved and have it budgeted for, I would approve of that, because that at least takes the view of the legislature and makes it public about how it will be financed, and therefore brings in that responsibility to make revenue-generation attended to," the FM said, responding to a question on political parties promising freebies ahead of state elections.

"But what most often happens -- not so much with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership -- is that you give away a promise  (and) once you have to fulfil it, you are searching and scrambling for resources. And if you are an Opposition-ruled party, it is very quickly an arsenal in your hand to say the central government is not giving me money," she said, adding that it was the most unsustainable argument.

"You give a promise, you win the election, you come to power and when you cannot fund it, why would you put the blame on somebody else, particularly the Union government?" the FM asked.

"This kind of recklessness in dealing with public finances has to be discouraged," she added.

The FM's remarks, though not directly naming Opposition-ruled states, appeared to be aimed at some of them which have struggled to finance populist schemes and doles they announced ahead of elections. Some of these state governments have blamed the Centre for lack of resources and also accused it of withholding funds.

The ruling BJP and the Opposition have often been at adds over the culture of promising freebies, or 'revadis'.

In 2023, the Supreme Court said that the issue of regulating electoral promises is "unmanageable". "Freebies will continue to destroy the economy unless there is a conscious decision taken by all political parties to stop such hand-outs," a three-judge bench of the top court said.