Arun Jaitley, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, addressed the 86th Annual General Meeting of FICCI in New Delhi.

Mr. Jaitley’s Luncheon session that focused on the BJP’s economic vision was very well received by the elite audience present.

The speech also stood out for the manner in which Mr. Jaitley systematically attacked the UPA government and singled out the Prime Minister for failing to fulfill his duty.

“India can’t afford a non-politician as prime minister.”

“Prime ministers must be natural leaders of the country and their party.”

“Prime ministership is not an employment. Prime ministers can never look helpless and be seen as not being allowed to deliver.”

“Corporates can have hired CEOs but not countries; countries cannot run this way.”

“When you can govern well, you can defeat even two- or three-term anti-incumbency.”

“Populism alone does not fetch votes.”

“Land Bill or food Bill, these haven’t got you even half percentage votes.”

“This is not just a lame-duck government, but a dead-duck one.”

“Some of these States like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have achieved remarkable growth in all these years. Gujarat has been a growth story for long but Madhya Pradesh which had the tag of being a prime BIMARU state has turned around and recorded double digit growth rates. Some may say that it started with a low base but that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s a hugely successful turn-around story. Good governance stands at the core of this success.”

There can be no alibi for non-performance on the economic front. Governments which fail to deliver on the economy tend to look for alibis.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 21, 2013

Despite inadequate governance, we had 8 to 9 % growth rates. What would be India’s potential with effective governance is anybody's guess

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 21, 2013

PMs are not judged by the number of years they spend in office but by the direction which they gave to the economy and the polity.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 22, 2013

Arrogance in politics is always counterproductive. Those you meet on your way up would also be there to meet you when you are coming down.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) December 22, 2013

Mr. Jaitley said that the immediate focus of the BJP would be to revive and restore the investment cycle once it comes to power in 2014. He also added that BJP’s prescription for the economy was a “market economy, with a social conscience”.

He sounded very positive when he said that the silver lining for India is that things cannot be worse than this and that the change was inevitable now.