Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday attacked the Narendra Modi government over the state of the economy, and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party was unable to fix the situation, ANI reported.
“The BJP’s ideology is to keep the country in a state of economic slowdown, and at the same time keep working on its agenda,” Scindia said. “Under 10 years of the UPA government, there was an average of 6.7% of GDP growth rate. In the past six quarters, however, we are witnessing that every record is being broken in terms of economic decline.”
The former MP said it was a cause of worry that the government is failing to push growth. “On one side, there is Inspector Raj,” Scindia said. “People are being thrown into jail. On the other hand, we are unable to control the economic situation.”
A number of Opposition leaders and parties have criticised the government for the fall in growth.
On Saturday, the Congress hit out at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, criticising her “clueless” handling of the economic slowdown. The party also described the measures announced by her to tackle the fall in growth as “cosmetic, piecemeal”. Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma had claimed Sitharaman lacked macroeconomic understanding, and pointed out that a comprehensive package for economic revival was expected from her.
Sitharaman had on Saturday announced the third set of government decisions to revive the economy, including a Rs 50,000 crore export incentive scheme and a Rs 10,000 crore special window to provide last mile funding for unfinished housing projects. The decisions follow two previous mega announcements designed to encourage private sector investment, and bring further stability into the banking system through several public sector bank mergers.
India’s economic growth rate had slipped to 5% in the April-June quarter, the lowest in over six years. In the last few months, core sectors such as automobiles and manufacturing have witnessed a progressive slowdown in growth due to weakened consumer demand and dearth of investments.
Also read:
The Indian economy is blaring warnings, but the Modi government remains in denial
Now, follow and debate the day’s most significant stories on Scroll Exchange.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!