The Congress on Tuesday claimed that 2022 has not been a wonderful but a "dreadful" year for the country's economy and asked the ruling BJP to focus on governance instead of defaming the opposition party and its Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Taking exception to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that this year has been wonderful for the country, Congress national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said it has been just the opposite instead. Vallabh cited several instances in support of his claim and said that the government has completely failed on the economic front during the year. "The prime minister has said that the country is now the fifth largest economy. The prime minister should not compare the entire economy but the income per person and not draw comparisons of his own," he told reporters here.
The Congress leader also urged Prime Minister Modi to join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra with a national tricolour in hand and invited him over for the same, saying all "disorders" in the mind would be cleared by doing so. Vallabh urged the ruling party to focus on the country's governance and the economy instead of focussing their attention on spreading lies to defame the Congress party and its yatra. He said as far as income per person is concerned, India stands at 142nd out of 197 countries and the country stands only above Afghanistan on the Hunger Index. The rupee has fallen by 10 per cent against the US dollar as it has been one of the worst performing currencies, he said.
The country's unemployment rate in urban areas is 10 per cent and 8.6 per cent nationally, Vallabh added, noting that "Modi ji has turned demographic dividend into demographic disaster". The Congress leader said inflation has remained above the six per cent mark for most of the year, which is above the RBI benchmark and all the rating agencies have reduced the economic growth rate for the year. Vallabh said global crude oil rates have fallen but the government continues to earn high tax on petrol and diesel and has not provided relief to the common people, even as milk prices have been raised twice during the year.
"2022 is not a wonderful but a dreadful year for the Indian economy. India's per capita GDP, not GDP, is more relevant. Without comparing per capita GDP, just comparing GDP is of no use and leads to wrong conclusions. A family of two earning Rs 2 lakh and a family of 10 earning Rs 2 lakh, which family is more prosperous? "India is in 144th position out of 194 economies in terms of GDP (nominal) per capita. India's nominal per capita is over 60 times lower than the wealthiest country and approximately eight times greater than the world's poorest country. India is in the 33rd position on the list of Asian countries. Modi ji, based on all this, is the year 2022 a wonderful or a dreadful for the Indian economy," he asked. Despite all this, the prime minister is claiming that it has been a wonderful year on the economic front, he said, adding that in 2022, exports have fallen and as a result, the trade deficit of the country has increased.
