Economy in ICU, utter incompetence of BJP govt to be blamed: Manish Tewari

New Delhi: Congress leader Manish Tewari on Friday alleged that the Indian economy is in "ICU" due to the "utter incompetence" of the current dispensation which has left the people in a "state of despair".

Addressing reporters ahead of the October 21 Haryana Assembly polls, he hit out at the Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state and said, "Why would the BJP need to fight elections on issues like Article 370 had Khattar given a clean and transparent regime."

Expressing grave concern over the crisis involving the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank which is mired in a multi-crore scam, Tewari said public money is no more safe in Indian banks and the scam has been totally damaging that has left thousands of depositors in a state of shock.

"The situation today is similar to the one after demonetisation when people had to form queues to take out their own money from the banks. The situation may get worse in the days to come," the Congress leader claimed.

"The utter incompetence of the incumbent regime has resulted in the destruction of our economic growth, leaving the common man in a state of despair and helplessness," the former Union minister said.

It is shameful that India has been ranked 102 of 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2019, behind its neighbours Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, he said.

The MP from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab claimed that the BJP government's "disastrous" demonetisation policy and implementation of the wrong model of the GST have led to the "collapse" of the Indian economy.

"These days it is often said that the Indian economy is in a tailspin, I truly believe that it is actually in ICU," Tewari said.

"Today the economy is in tatters but BJP government is silent on this. Investors have lost faith in the Indian economy and NDA is responsible for this. This is a man-made tragedy, a man-made disaster created and conceptualised by the NDA government," he said.

The current dispensation should answer people how the unemployment rate has become so high, they should tell people about the state of the economy and also give them an account of its pre-poll promises, the Congress leader said.

"Former prime minister Manmohan Singh said in Mumbai yesterday that in order to revive the Indian economy you have to make a correct diagnosis of the problem," he said, adding the BJP leaders are not bothered to look into the root cause of the issue.

Under the UPA government, there was a global economic meltdown but the country's leadership of that time ensured India remained largely unaffected, Tewari said.

"In 2004-05, the Indian economy grew at a rate of 9 per cent... In 2008 global economic meltdown happened but we only came down to 6.7 per cent and the very next year we rebounded to 9.5 per cent, which was possible because we had a wise leadership. We had extremely experienced economists, the country was in safe pair of hands and they knew how to deal with the economy," the Congress leader said.

To a question, Tewari said when it is only during Maharashtra election that the BJP wants Bharat Ratna for Veer Savarkar.

He later tweeted, "The first people who deserve a Bharat Ratna are Shaheed- E-Azam Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukhdev. It begs another question what stopped the NDA/BJP from giving Sh. Savarkar a Bharat Ratna in the past 5 years. Was there some other Govt in India (sic)."

To another question, Tewari said in the last five years the Haryana government has not agreed to Chandigarh's International airport be named after Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh.

"Is it nationalism or electoral opportunism on which the BJP has based its policies?" he asked.