New Delhi: A day after GDP projections came out, Congress president Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the Central government, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “divisive politics” had given India a 63-year low in bank credit growth and an eight-year low in job creation.
In a tweet, Mr Gandhi said, FM Jaitley’s “genius” combined with Mr Modi’s “gross divisive politics” (GDP) had given a 13-year low in new investments, 63-year low in bank credit growth and 8-year low in job creation. He claimed the fiscal deficit had increased and projects had been stalled.
Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram also hit out at the government over lower growth estimates for the current fiscal, saying the worst fears of an imminent economic slowdown have come true. There is a decline in new projects and fresh investment. He further added, “No amount of sugar coating, false bravado and rhetoric along with headlines management can conceal the stark reality. Our fears and warnings have proved true.”
While defending the government Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said, “When the global economy slowed down India continued to grow at a steady rate. We continued to grow as the fastest economy for three years.” In the recently concluded Winter Session of Parliament in short duration discussion on the economy Mr Jaitley had said that the market had rewarded the fiscal prudence of the NDA government. He further went on to assert that the ratings of the international rating agency Moody are a clear indication of the way the economy is going. Moody had upgraded India’s ratings.
In the recently concluded Assembly elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh the Congress had made the economic slowdown a major issue. The party has been demanding answers by the government over “rising unemployment” and “faulty implementation of GST”. Now with the recent GDP projections coming out, the Congress is on the offensive and asking the government to come clean. The issues of demonetisation, hasty GST implementation, rising unemployment will be raised by the Congress in the Assembly elections slated this year.
