ECONOMY

Jaitley’s 'genius', Modi’s 'GDP' responsible for growth slump: Rahul

PTI2_7_2017_000114A Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with Prime Minister Narendra Modi | File

A day after the Centre lowered its GDP forecast for the current financial year, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took to Twitter to take a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

In a sly remark, Rahul attributed India's economic growth to "Jaitley’s genius" and "Modi’s Gross Divisive Politics (GDP)". The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had revised GDP growth during 2017-18 to an estimated 6.5 per cent, as compared to 7.1 per cent in 2016-17.

Soon after the figures were released on Friday, the Congress had accused the prime minister and finance minister of ignoring economic wisdom and dealing a "catastrophic" blow to India's growth story.

Party communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala claimed that the double whammy of "Modi Made Disaster of Demonetisation" and the implementation of a flawed GST were responsible for the economy's downturn.

"An arrogant Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a failed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, hell bent upon ignoring economic wisdom, have dealt a catastrophic blow to India's growth story as proved by the latest GDP estimates slumping from 7.3 per cent to 6.5 per cent," he said yesterday.

He claimed the truth was that investment had stagnated, job creation was abysmal, exports were in dire straits, stalled projects were burgeoning, inflation remained unchecked and rural distress was at an all time high.

"Hype, hyperbole and headline management cannot be a substitute to the grim reality on the ground," he said.

He alleged that 6.5 per cent GDP growth "detailed the failed promise of the prime minister and explained the abject failure of Modinomics".

He claimed that job creation was the biggest failure of the BJP government and said the labour bureau data showed that job creation was the lowest in eight years.

"As the government completes four years of its term, the people are seeing through the long distance between rhetoric and reality," he said, adding the people were watching and would give a befitting political reply when the time arrived. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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