“Finally the एक तिहाई Pradhan Mantri has realised…”: Jairam Ramesh takes a swipe at PM Modi's Decision to Dissolve Planning Commission in 2014

Congress Rajya Sabha MP, Jairam Ramesh on Thursday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in the name of the President, copies of which were also sent to the President’s Secretariat, Prime Minister's Secretariat, and the Planning Commission amongst others. Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his first Independence Day speech in 2014 had conveyed his intention to dissolve the Planning Commission, which was then superseded by the NITI Ayog.

Taking to social media platform “X”, Jairam Ramesh shared an image of the notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, stating that the Prime Minister “seems to have realised his folly in abolishing” the Planning Commission ten years back. “The Lok Sabha Secretariat has just issued a Notification in the name of the President of India, summoning the Lok Sabha on June 24th. A copy of the Notification has been forwarded to the Planning Commission. Finally, the एक तिहाई Pradhan Mantri seems to have realised his folly in abolishing it ten years back and replacing it with a drumbeating NITI Aayog,” posted the senior Congress leader.

Established in 1950, the Planning Commission was an institution that formulated India’s Five Year Plans amongst other functions, and it was dissolved in August 2014, and superseded by the NITI Ayog. The NITI Ayog or the National Institution for Transforming India serves as a public policy think tank for the Government of India.

Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister for his third consecutive term on June 9. However, it is important to note that the Bharatiya Janata Party in spite of being the single largest party filed to cross the majority mark on its own, having bagged 240 seats in the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He formed the government with the help of his NDA alliance partners. The Opposition Bloc INDIA cumulatively bagged a total of 232 seats.