The last thing India needs at this stage is political instability, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

Speaking at the TheIndianSubcontinent Global Business Summit in Delhi, Jaitley said the country cannot afford a chaotic combination in the form of a coalition, asserting that India needs a five-year government, and not a six-month one. He also cautioned that a cocktail of misconceived populism poses danger to the country’s fabric. The FM took note of the exponential growth in India’s middle class, which he said is dictating global investments. “India has a lot of aspirational people wanting to join the middle class, which has compelled policy decisions.

India was waiting to become a more honest society,” he said. India, according to Jaitley, has a lot more reasons to be impatient.

“Politicians and bureaucrats no longer have unlimited power.

Lots of people are wanting to become middle class The system is more transparent now and offenders are realising that it’s no longer possible to bend the system,” he added. On controversy regarding the Reserve Bank of India, Jaitley said the central bank needs to enjoy its autonomy while being aware of its responsibility.

“Allegations of government attacking the institutions are fake.

Nobody from the business sector and the industry said they disagree with the govt on issues regarding the RBI.

The country is more important than any institution, be it RBI or government,” the FM said. Jailey also asserted that in India, politics is increasingly influenced by economics.

He acknowledged that there was a lot of public pressure to perform on the government, which was forcing every political party to fall in line. "Our taxation collection is close to doubling.

Size of middle class is growing exponentially.

Greater formalisation of economy, expansion of tax base benefitted infra and system, and even those people who always thought they were out of it,” he said. Talking about some of the populist measures announced in Interim Budget, Jaitley said no finance minister can resist the pressure of Budget sops at the cost of compromising fiscal discipline unless the prime minister stands by him. “We took some decisions in the larger interest of the economy, which was necessary,” the FM said, adding that a blend of good governance with clever politics was needed to win elections in India.

“Otherwise a good bureaucrat would become a prime minister, which will never happen.” Terming, the reform process undertaken by the Narendra Modi government to handle the NPA mess as remarkable, Jaitley said credit flow had dried up under the previous regime. “It was a painful 2-3 years of cleansing process, but I am happy in the last 5-6 months, things seem to be turning around,” he said adding. According to Jaitley, after Ayushman Bharat, health insurance coverage in the country jumped to 78 per cent from 38 per cent in 2014.

"10 crore families were coming into partly self-paid and partly govt-paid insurance coverage," he said. On Pulwama terrorist attack, Jaitley said the kind of anger is unprecedented this time.

“Pakistan is a rogue state.

India will exercise all options within its means, whether it is diplomatic or otherwise.

We will have to decisively win this battle,” he said. Reacting to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement on proof of the attack, the FM said, “He has people sitting in his country claiming the attack, and Pakistan PM still wants evidence.

Pakistan is riding a tiger on this issue.” Jaitley also said that India should not play Pakistan in friendly or event competition matches at a time of a hostile environment between the two countries.