People want to know why 'achhe din' hasn't arrived after 6 years: Chidambaram

Former FM urges PM Modi to talk about three economic issues at Delhi election

chidambaram-modi Chidamabaram also gave three topics on which the PM and his ministers could talk about during the Delhi elections

With just 10 days to go before Delhi goes to elect their assembly representatives, Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to talk about economy, which has been in doldrums, and not to drift off to "abuse and rhetoric" to divert attention. "People want to hear facts about the economy, not abuse and rhetoric. People want to know why achhe din has not arrived after 6 years," the former Union minister tweeted. 

From rise in inflation to fall in tax revenues and an anticipated cut in expenditure cuts for the backward communities, Chidambaram also gave three topics on which the PM and his ministers could talk about during the Delhi elections. "Since the PM and his ministers seem cut off from reality, here are three things they can speak about in the DELHI elections: 1. CPI has increased from 2 per cent in Jan 2019 to 7.35 per cent in Dec 2019. 2. Tax revenues will fall short of budget estimates by Rs 2.5 lakh crore in 2019-20. 3. There will be sharp expenditure cuts in programmes meant for SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women & children (sic)," Chidambaram hit out against the ruling dispensation in a series of tweets. 

The Indian economy is witnessing a sharp slowdown with GDP growth slowing down to 4.5 per cent in the last quarter, the slowest in 14 quarters. However, after witnessing a degrowth for three consecutive months, industrial growth witnessed signs of revival in November 2019. 

Chidambaram's charge on Wednesday morning follows his party's rant a day before against the Narendra Modi government's handling of the economy. The Congress had accused the government of doing little to put the country's economy in order and warned that it was on the brink of stagflation.

"Indian economy needs utmost attention of the government. It has to be prepared and which is why the world will watch," said party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate. 

Last week, IMF chief Gita Gopinath had observed the economic slowdown in India was the primary reason behind global growth estimates being downgraded in the latest World Economic Outlook. IMF had slashed global growth projections for 2019 to 2.9 per cent and for 2020 to 3.3 per cent. India's growth forecast was also downgraded for 2019 to 4.8 per cent from 6.1 per cent on the back of sharp decline in consumer demand, stress in the NBFC sector and sluggish credit growth.