Congress accused the Modi Government of “destroying” the economy and said growth can be achieved only if the country is rescued from “incompetent economic managers”. The party also adopted a resolution on the economy at its Plenary session with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking to know the fate of the promised two crore jobs. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram accused the Modi Government of squandering a golden opportunity to catapult India’s growth after economic gains during the previous UPA Government. Singh rued that at a time the world economy had grown from 2.8 per cent to 3.8 per cent from 2014 to 2018, the Indian economy had “decoupled itself ” from the world economy. He claimed India grew by 7.8 per cent under the UPA regime led by him. He lamented that only about 1.6 per cent of the country’s GDP was spent on defence expenditure, which, he said, could not meet the challenges that the security apparatus posed. He also alleged that there were many issues on the foreign policy front that had been poorly handled by the Modi Government. “The BJP Government has messed up the economy. When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled,” he said. Singh said the BJP claimed in 2014 that if it came to power it would provide 2 crore jobs. “But we have not seen even two lakh jobs,” he said. The “ill-thought and illconceived” demonetisation and “hastily put forward” legislation for GST had destroyed many jobs and created problems for the small and medium industry and the informal sector, both in terms of production and providing jobs, he said.

When the former prime minister spoke on foreign policy and defence, he was accorded a thunderous applause and a standing ovation by party leaders. Singh accused the BJP-led Government of having “mismanaged” the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir and said the Government’s talk of fighting two and a half wars was “yet another hollow promise”. On his part, Chidambaram said the crisis which the country faces can worsen in the last year of the Modi Government as the budget has provided no answers. “This budget is the handiwork of a government which is completely helpless, clueless and directionless. I am afraid, 12 months from today, whoever comes into the Government, will face a major crisis,” he said. The resolution moved by Chidambaram said that the tenure of the Narendra Modiled Government was replete with Governance and management misadventures and mistakes. “The most colossal failure has been its mismanagement of the economy,” said the resolution moved by Chidambaram. “The one party which can bring this country out of crisis is the Congress. Why do I say that? I say that not out of arrogance, not out of conceit, I say this because we have done it before and we can do it again beginning next year,” the former Union Minister said. “The Congress reiterates that the abysmal economic management of the Modi Government has resulted in lack of jobs for millions of India’s youth, stagnant real incomes for hundreds of millions of farmers, collapse of the manufacturing sector, destruction of micro, small and medium businesses, paralysis of India’s banking sector,” the resolution mentioned. “The economy is in the hands of ignorant and incompetent policy makers who have derailed economic growth through reckless and bizarre policies such as demonetisation and a hasty imposition of a flawed Goods and Services Tax regime,” it said. “They said we will abolish black money, we will put an end to corruption. We will stop fake currency. Have they put an end to black money? Every rally, every public meeting of the prime minister is financed by any money other than black money. Have they put an end to corruption, fake currency?” Chidambaram asked.

By Opinion Express News Services

Congress accused the Modi Government of “destroying” the economy and said growth can be achieved only if the country is rescued from “incompetent economic managers”. The party also adopted a resolution on the economy at its Plenary session with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking to know the fate of the promised two crore jobs. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram accused the Modi Government of squandering a golden opportunity to catapult India’s growth after economic gains during the previous UPA Government. Singh rued that at a time the world economy had grown from 2.8 per cent to 3.8 per cent from 2014 to 2018, the Indian economy had “decoupled itself ” from the world economy. He claimed India grew by 7.8 per cent under the UPA regime led by him. He lamented that only about 1.6 per cent of the country’s GDP was spent on defence expenditure, which, he said, could not meet the challenges that the security apparatus posed. He also alleged that there were many issues on the foreign policy front that had been poorly handled by the Modi Government. “The BJP Government has messed up the economy. When Modi ji was campaigning he made lots of tall promises. Those promises have not been fulfilled,” he said. Singh said the BJP claimed in 2014 that if it came to power it would provide 2 crore jobs. “But we have not seen even two lakh jobs,” he said. The “ill-thought and illconceived” demonetisation and “hastily put forward” legislation for GST had destroyed many jobs and created problems for the small and medium industry and the informal sector, both in terms of production and providing jobs, he said.

When the former prime minister spoke on foreign policy and defence, he was accorded a thunderous applause and a standing ovation by party leaders. Singh accused the BJP-led Government of having “mismanaged” the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir and said the Government’s talk of fighting two and a half wars was “yet another hollow promise”. On his part, Chidambaram said the crisis which the country faces can worsen in the last year of the Modi Government as the budget has provided no answers. “This budget is the handiwork of a government which is completely helpless, clueless and directionless. I am afraid, 12 months from today, whoever comes into the Government, will face a major crisis,” he said. The resolution moved by Chidambaram said that the tenure of the Narendra Modiled Government was replete with Governance and management misadventures and mistakes. “The most colossal failure has been its mismanagement of the economy,” said the resolution moved by Chidambaram. “The one party which can bring this country out of crisis is the Congress. Why do I say that? I say that not out of arrogance, not out of conceit, I say this because we have done it before and we can do it again beginning next year,” the former Union Minister said. “The Congress reiterates that the abysmal economic management of the Modi Government has resulted in lack of jobs for millions of India’s youth, stagnant real incomes for hundreds of millions of farmers, collapse of the manufacturing sector, destruction of micro, small and medium businesses, paralysis of India’s banking sector,” the resolution mentioned. “The economy is in the hands of ignorant and incompetent policy makers who have derailed economic growth through reckless and bizarre policies such as demonetisation and a hasty imposition of a flawed Goods and Services Tax regime,” it said. “They said we will abolish black money, we will put an end to corruption. We will stop fake currency. Have they put an end to black money? Every rally, every public meeting of the prime minister is financed by any money other than black money. Have they put an end to corruption, fake currency?” Chidambaram asked.

By Opinion Express News Services