PM Modi compares 'pessimistic' critics to Mahabharata's Shalya

NEW DELHI: Slamming his detractors as "pessimists", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday presented a report card of his three-year-old government, which has recently come under attack following a downturn in the economy.

The Prime Minister also took aim at "Shalyas" within his own camp who have been spreading negativity by critizing the BJP-led NDA government for perceived failures on a range of issues.

Addressing a gathering of company secretaries at the golden jubilee celebrations of the ICSI, PM Modi likened his critics to Shalya, a character in the epic Mahabharata who fought on the side of the Kauravas. He was a charioteer to Karna, but would constantly utter demoralising comments while Karna was engaged in battle with his nemesis Arjuna.

"These people suffer from Shalya-vrutti (pessimism). They sleep well only after they spread a feeling of pessimism all around. We need to recognise such people," PM Modi said.

He lamented how pessimists were describing the April-June growth of 5.7 per cent as doomsday.

The Prime Minister's barbed remarks alluding to such a fatalistic character come in the wake of senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's scathing critique of the Modi government's handling of the economy.

In an op-ed last week, Sinha had described the economy as a "mess" that will not resuscitate before the next general elections. He's also called demonetisation "an unmitigated economic disaster" and said the GST rollout was "badly conceived and poorly implemented."

Former Union minister Arun Shourie, who'd served in the Vajpayee cabinet, has slammed the Narendra Modi government over sliding economic growth and increasing job losses.

These virulent salvos against the BJP government, coming from within its own camp, may have led PM Modi to compare these naysayers to Shalya.

Countering the charges of his critics, PM Modi said his government will continue reforms and will not hesitate to take decisions to reverse the GDP slowdown witnessed in the last two quarters.

He further went on to say the government will graciously accept criticism on the economic front and will make amends where necessary.

"The government is committed to reverse this trend...we are capable of that and ready to take decisions," PM Modi said, adding the decisions taken by the government will take India to a new growth trajectory.