Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday praised his government’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, a day after the Central Statistics Office said the country’s gross domestic product had not taken the hit economists had predicted. Speaking at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh, Modi said that the public knows the difference between “people at Harvard” and people’s “hard work”.
On Tuesday, the Central Statistics Office pegged the financial year’s third quarter (October to December) GDP growth rate at 7%, after factoring the impact of demonetisation. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das had said eralier in the day, “People projected a negative impact of demonetisation on the GDP. But we maintained growth at 7%.”
Moving on to the state elections, the prime minister said the people of Uttar Pradesh had already voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the first five phases of the polls. Modi said, “You only have to give us a bonus in the 6th and 7th phase.”
Modi claimed this election will reflect the peoples’ revenge on the incumbent government. “The people of Uttar Pradesh will avenge the loss imposed on them by the ruling parties,” He went on to add that the people of Uttar Pradesh took his Swachh Bharat Abhyan to another level by cleaning all the dirt from state politics. Regarding the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, Modi said, “One has expertise in ruining the country, other has expertise in ruining UP. What will happen if they come together?”
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