New Delhi, Jan 6: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying their GDP (Gross Divisive Politics) is responsible for the economic downturn. Attributing the growth of the economy to Jaitley’s ‘genius’ and Modi’s ‘Gross Divisive Politics’, Gandhi scion hit out at Modi-led NDA government, saying the new investments, bank credit growth, job creation, agriculture growth were all down while fiscal deficit and stalled projects were rising.
Rahul’s comment came a day after India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth was estimated to slow down to a 4-year low of 6.5 per cent this fiscal (2017-18), the lowest under the NDA regime.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also attacked the Prime Minister and Finance Minister for the slowdown. Taking a jibe at Modi and Jaitley, Surjewala tweeted,”Modinomics+Jaitlinomics= Economy
2014-15 to 2017-18
GDP-7.5% to 6.5%⤵️
2016-17 to 2017-18
Agriculture GVA -4.9% to 1.7%⤵️
Industry-5.6% to 4.4%⤵️
Pvt Consumption-8.7% to 6.3%⤵️
Govt Exp.-20.8% to 8.5%⤵️
Fiscal Deficit⬆️
Reality V/S Rhetoric!”
Yesterday, the grand old party had 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,” the Opposition had said in a statement.
Earlier on Friday, while announcing the first advance estimates of National Income 2017-18, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) had said,”The growth in GDP during 2017-18 is estimated at 6.5 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 7.1 per cent in 2016- 17.”
Economic activities were affected by demonetisation announced on November 8, 2016 and subsequent implementation of a new indirect tax regime (GST) from July 1 in the current financial year. As per the CSO data, the expansion in activities in ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ is likely to slow to 2.1 per cent in the current fiscal from 4.9 per cent in the preceding year. The growth in manufacturing sector too is expected to decelerate to 4.6 per cent this fiscal, down from 7.9 per cent in 2016-17.