BJP’s Amit Malviya slams Congress for doubting economic gains

New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) BJP leader Amit Malviya on Friday trained his guns on the Congress for doubting the economy’s growth story under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ignoring evidence from global agencies documenting UPA era’s ‘legacy of ruin’.

Malviya’s acerbic post on social media platform X followed Congress leader Jairam Ramesh questioning NITI Aayog officials’ ‘contradictory’ comments on the size of the economy and the allegedly ‘tepid’ consumption and investment momentum.

“It is utterly predictable, yet endlessly tiresome, to witness Jairam Ramesh & Co clutch at straws, desperately attempting to undermine India’s undeniable economic resurgence,” said Malviya.

Hitting out at the Congress General Secretary incharge Communications, Malviya said, “Congress’ latest lament over NITI Aayog discussions and the supposed ‘fixation’ on economic size reeks of the same intellectual dishonesty and selective amnesia that defined their disastrous decade in power.”

Deriding the Congress leader, Malviya said, “Stop the carping. The data speaks for itself.”

Earlier, referring to the conflicting statements made by NITI Aayog officials on the size of the economy, Jairam Ramesh wrote on X, “First the NITI Aayog CEO makes a claim on the size of the Indian economy which apparently surpassed Japan’s ‘just as he was speaking.’ Then a member of the NITI Aayog contradicts its CEO and presents a more realistic picture.”

“Now the Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog takes a completely different line saying that his colleagues were using the wrong standard for comparison and that actually India’s economy is already half the size of that of the USA. This fixation on the size of the economy alone is not helping. It gets headlines but meanwhile consumption is tepid and investment momentum is just not picking up,” wrote Ramesh in a post on social media.

Slamming the needless debate over the size of the booming Indian economy, Malviya wrote, “Let us talk about fixation. The only fixation evident is the Congress’ obsession with twisting data and peddling narratives that conveniently ignore the economic catastrophe they presided over.”

He reminded the Congress leader about the ‘Fragile Five’ global category that the economy had slipped into during the UPA government and selectively using statements to question the NDA government.

“They cherry-pick statements and feign concern over methodologies when it suits them, yet conveniently ignore mountains of evidence from the World Bank, IMF, RBI, and countless other agencies documenting the UPA era’s legacy of ruin: Crippling policy paralysis, rampant corruption scandals that destroyed investor confidence, and the infamous ‘Fragile Five’ label slapped on India thanks to their gross mismanagement,” wrote Malviya.

To showcase the NDA government’s stellar performance, the BJP’s incharge of National Information and Technology Department shared data pointing to the economy’s resilience, record GST collections at Rs 2.37 lakh crore (up 12.6 per cent YoY), Forex reserves crossing $600 billion, inflation control, record exports and booming financial markets.

“Jairam Ramesh complains about a ‘fixation on size’? The only fixation is the Congress’ refusal to accept facts. They prefer selective amnesia over confronting the truth, that their tenure was marked by high inflation, low confidence, and systemic rot,” said Malviya.

“Today’s focus is on stable, sustainable growth and navigating global headwinds with competence, something the UPA utterly failed to do, even in calmer times,” he claimed.

–IANS

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