Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a swipe at the Narendra Modi government, saying its “well planned fight” against the coronavirus pandemic has led to decline in India’s gross domestic product, loss of employment, stressed loans and globally daily highest cases and deaths.
Gandhi’s remarks came two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah described India’s fight against the pandemic as “well-planned”. “Coronavirus is an unprecedented challenge for us,” the home minister had said, according to PTI. “But we are fighting against it in a well-planned manner under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the entire world has recognised our efforts.”
The Congress has consistently attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government for failing to contain the health crisis. “Modi government’s ‘well-planned fight’ against Covid has put India in an abyss of historic GDP reduction of 24%, 12 crore jobs lost, 15.5 lakh crores additional stressed loans, globally highest daily Covid cases and deaths,” Gandhi tweeted on Saturday. “But for GOI [Government of India] and media ‘sab changa si’ [everything is good].”
Congress leader Sachin Pilot supported the matters highlighted by Gandhi, PTI reported. “The country is facing an economic crisis, industries are shutting down, 2.10 crore people have lost their jobs, salaries are being cut and on the other hand, China is entering our territory,” he told reporters in Jaipur.
The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister alleged that the BJP is trying to divert people’s attention from the border tensions between India and China.
The Indian economy saw its worst contraction in decades, with Gross Domestic Product shrinking by a record 23.9% in the April to June quarter and reflected the severe impact of the coronavirus-induced lockdown. On Tuesday, American credit rating agency Fitch Ratings sharply lowered its growth forecast for India, saying that the country’s Gross Domestic Product for the financial year 2020-’21 is expected to contract by 10.5%, instead of its earlier estimate of a 5% contraction. On Friday, Moody’s Investors Service lowered India’s projected Gross Domestic Product growth rate to minus 11.5% for the 2020-’21 financial year.
On Wednesday, Gandhi had criticised the Centre for its management of the coronavirus crisis, saying that Modi promised to end the crisis in 21 days but instead finished off small businesses and the livelihoods of crores of people. A day later, the Congress launched an online campaign against the government over unemployment in the country.
India’s coronavirus tally reached 46,59,985 on Saturday with a record rise of 97,570 cases in the last 24 hours. The toll rose by 1,201 to 77,472. India now has 9,58,316 active cases. The country’s recovery rate is currently 77.77%, while the mortality rate is 1.66%.
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!