Congress targets BJP government over handling of economy

The Congress on Friday targeted the BJP-led government over its handling of economy and said that the GDP growth was slowing down while there was widespread inequality in incomes.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha said RBI has lowered India's GDP growth forecast for 2019-20 to 6.1 per cent which will be the lowest in six years.

"The IMF, World Bank are all equally bearish. To say that the Indian economy is gasping for breath on a ventilator will not be an exaggeration," he said.

Jha claimed Indian government's data integrity has itself become questionable.

"We are being compared to China's dodgy data, pregnant with brazen mpulation. For example, the CAG reported that India's real fiscal deficit could be as astonishingly high as 5.8 per cent while the government claimed it was 3.46 per cent," he said.

Jha said one of the reasons why India lags behind in GDP growth is "high inequality" where roughly one per cent of Indians own 60 per cent of wealth.

He also pointed out that India's ranking in Global Hunger Index (102 out of 119) and Human Development Index (130 out of 189) should be considered alarming.

"Unemployment means a humongous waste of human resources. The Modi government has destroyed India's demographic dividend. New investment in education has dwindled. We have thrown away our competitive advantage," he alleged.

"While Indians have become poorer, the BJP has become rich. Look at the money they get in electoral bonds, monopolizing 95 per cent of the funds received. It is a government of the one per cent by the one per cent and for the one per cent," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )