Modi govt messed up the economy, mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir: Congress

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh today attacked the BJP-led NDA government for failing to deliver on its "tall promises" and "making a mess" of the Indian economy.

"The BJP government made tall promises. PM Modi himself said that his government will double farmers' income. For that, a growth rate of 12 per cent per annum is necessary which is unthinkable in the current scenario," Singh said in an address at the 84th plenary session of the Congress.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's propensity for "jumlebaazi" (empty rhetoric), Singh charged that the work done by this union government falls short of the claims made by its leaders.

"He (Modi) said we will provide 2 crore jobs, we have not seen even 2 lakh jobs... It is a jumla-type statement unlikely to be achieved," he charged.

Describing the government's demonetisation move as "ill-considered" and GST as "hastily implemented" + , the Congress leader said the twin measures had "messed up Indian economy".

In a similar vein, Congress leader P Chidambaram claimed the Modi government had inherited a strong economy legacy from the erstwhile UPA regime, but four year on, the Indian economy is lagging behind its global competitors.

"Today, the Indian economy is decoupled from the world economy which is growing," he said.

He also termed demonetisation a "big lie", before offering some choice words of advice to the RBI governor.

"Demonetisation was a big lie. RBI is still counting and won't tell us how much money has come back. I would like to advice the RBI Governor to go to Tirupati and get the hundi collectors. They count money faster than the RBI," Chidambaram quipped.

Singh, a noted economist and former finance minister, disparaged the budgetary allocations made by the government for the defence sector, calling it "inadequate" given the current geo-political scenario in India's neighbourhood.

"The defense expenditure of our country is no more than 1.6 per cent of our GDP. This is far too inadequate to meet the challenges of our security apparatus and our needs," he said.

On Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Singh blamed the BJP-PDP combine for engendering instability, and likened the two parties to "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing".

"The Modi government has mismanaged issues in J&K like never before. They have installed a government where the two wings of the administration are working against each other. The atmosphere is deteriorating everyday," he warned.

The former PM said that India currently standing at the crossroads, and while it has many opportunities in hand, it also faces many challenges. At such a time, the Congress party will provide a new pathway to chalk out the future of the country, he asserted.

"The Congress party made India what it is today. It led the freedom struggle and guided India towards development after Independence. Today, we face similar challenges of carrying forward development and social justice," said Singh.