Abhishek Manu Singhvi. (File)Hitting out at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for attributing the slowdown in the automobile sector to the “mindset of millennials”, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi Wednesday said, “blame everyone but the BJP’s handling of the economy”.
“Yes..that’s great. Blame the voters..blame everyone but BJP’s handling of the economy Mrs Finance Minister,” Abhishek Singhvi tweeted.
The Finance Minister on Tuesday had said the slowdown in auto sales was due to various factors such as the change in the mindset of millennials who prefer taking an Ola or Uber than committing to buying an automobile.
“Automobiles in particular and the components together have been affected by several things, inclusive of BS-VI movement, inclusive of that registration fee-related matter. Some studies do tell us the mindset of the millennials who are now preferring not to commit an EMI towards buying automobiles but would consider taking (cab aggregators) Ola, Uber and everything else or take the Metro,” Sitharaman said at an event in Chennai.
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of making India a $5 trillion economy, Singhvi said, “Modi ji’s Twitter followers have crossed 50 million. Economy will cross 5 trillion (dollars), but how? Youths are not getting jobs, will you hold opposition responsible for this too. Uber, Ola have ruined everything.”
“Whatever good has happened, has been done by us (Modinomics). Whatever bad has happened, has been done by others (Nirmalanomics). Then, why have people elected you? (Publiconomics),” he further said in another tweet.
Congress also took a dig at Sitharaman for her remarks. “So the decline in bus and truck sales is also because millennials have stopped buying them as much as they used to. Isn’t that right FM Smt. @nsitharaman?” Congress tweeted.
Referring to a report, Congress criticised the Modi government for its claim that crores of stocks in investor wealth had been wiped off within the 100 days of its second term.
“Despite their promise of protecting wealth creators, the government’s disastrous policies have wiped away Rs 12.5 lakh crore of investor wealth in the last 100 days. Unlike the FM’s excuses, these are the real reasons for it: Demonetisation, GST, Tax Terrorism,” the party said.
-with PTI inputs
