New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday launched a scathing critique of the Congress for questioning the ‘benefits and outcomes’ of holding BRICS Summit and compared the country’s progress and prosperity under Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA eras to dismiss the charge and also ‘expose its duplicity’.
BJP national spokesperson and MP, Ravi Shankar Prasad, digging out the ‘dark and sluggish’ growth index during UPA eras, said that Congress had sunk the economy and it was the Narendra Modi government that rebuilt it and made it shine.
Addressing the press conference at BJP Headquarters, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that before 2014 the country was dubbed as “Fragile Five” but today it was among the world’s top five economies.
“During the Congress regime, India was part of the ‘Fragile Five’; today, under the Modi government, it is among the world’s top five economies and has emerged as a bright spot in BRICS,” PM Modi said.
The two-day BRICS Summit in the national capital, under the global spotlight, took a political turn today as the Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram questioned the “tangible benefits” arising out of such Summits.
Chidambaram, speaking ahead of BRICS, said that he wasn’t aware of the global dignitaries visiting India for the high-profile Summit but then wondered, how much the BRICS Summits have resulted in tangible benefits for the nation.
Referring to Congress leaders’ claims of “what India will gain from the BRICS”, Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back saying, “In 2011, 2012 and 2013, India’s economy was described as one of the ‘Fragile Five’. Many global institutions like Goldman Sachs and Standard & Poor’s had said that the Indian economy was rapidly turning into a junk economy.”
He also remarked that it is important to remind Congress leaders about the sorry state of affairs that existed during their reign.
He said that the country saw policy paralysis, rampant looting, declining confidence in Indian economy and an overall pall of gloom surrounded the economy. Besides all this, series of scams ruined the economy.
“It was under Modi government that the country moved forward from fragile five to among world’s top five economies. With the blessings of 140 crore people, India has today emerged as a bright spot in BRICS,” the BJP MP added.
Ravi Shankar Prasad also pointed to India’s GDP growth of 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of current financial year and added that the same has been endorsed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Despite global shocks, the energy crisis and wars, at a time when global supply chains have been disrupted, the IMF has praised the resilience of the Indian economy. It has also appreciated the manner in which India is progressing in the services sector, manufacturing sector and trade,” he noted.
–IANS
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