Kapil Sibal slams Jaitley over 'ease of doing corruption' remark

Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal on Thursday slammed Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his "ease of doing corruption" remark.

Jaitley on Wednesday criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, saying that ease of doing corruption has now been replaced by the ease of doing business.

Speaking to ANI, the Congress leader said, "He seems to forget that he is not the Finance Minister of only 3.21 taxpayers. He is also the Finance Minister of the millions of people who do business in this country. He must realise the day they feel that there is ease of doing business is the day that they will appreciate the Finance Minister. So, the Finance Minister should not rely on World Bank report given in respect with Delhi and Mumbai which deals with creamy layers of business in our society."

He further said that there are millions of people whose business have finished, adding that, "until their business is eased, there is no question of ease of doing business."

After the report of India becoming the first ever country to record the highest jump in World Bank's ease of doing business ranking, Jaitley took to Twitter and said, "The difference between the UPA and NDA - The ease of doing corruption has been replaced by the ease of doing business."

Earlier, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had said there is no ease of doing business in India, as it has been ruined by the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's decision to roll out the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

In accordance with the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business' index, India had risen as much as 30 positions to rank 100th amongst 190 countries.