New Delhi: Referring to the economic slowdown, the Congress on Friday said the government's functioning has been affected by the "karo-na (don't do anything) virus", asserting that the Centre continues to function in an "ostrich-like" mode despite all economic indicators spiralling downward.
The Congress' attack on the government came after official data released on Friday showed that India's economic growth slowed to 4.7 per cent in October-December 2019.
"Economy is in shambles, stagflation is here, every indicator of economy is in a downward spiral yet the government continues to function in an ostrich-like mode," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh said in a statement.
"'KARO-NA' (don't do anything) virus has plagued the functioning of the BJP government as reflected in the latest GDP numbers," they said, in a play on the word corona in coronavirus, which has affected various parts of the world after wreaking havoc in China.
Surjewala and Vallabh also asked the government whether it only wants to manage the numbers through unclear revisions and why it is not coming out with the truth that this is not a 20-basis point improvement.
"It's the right intentions converting into actions that is required," the statement said.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was registered at 5.6 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The Congress alleged that the alarming indicators are being ignored by a "myopic BJP government blinded by inertia".
"Both Q-1 and Q-2 GDP growth have been revised to 5.6% and 5.1% respectively. Thus despite poor numbers across the growth indicators, how has this magic happened," he asked.
Real estate is at an all-time high stress, with more than 12 lakh units lying unsold and no clear sight of any revival, the Congress said.
"Bank credit is showing clear signs of tiring yet finance is indicated as growing. Is this a result of those financing transactions, which are not in the eye of any statistics," the party asked.
Despite the so-called stimulus by the government in September 2019 and during the Budget, the sentiment towards demand and consumption are clearly down, the statement said.
"We're not getting any indication that the government is concerned. Industry and manufacturing sector are down and clearly indicating that the pain in unemployment rate was not exaggerated," it said.
"Yet, there's no clarity as to what the government is doing to stop this unabated risk in the country? Exports are significantly down. Capital formation is at a negative of 5.2 per cent, clearly indicating that there's no positive outlook for investments. This is a huge risk that is confronting the economy," the Congress said.
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