Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said that the state of the economy is "deeply worrying" and is largely a result of "all-round mismanagement by the Modi government," according to a news agency ANI.
His comments came in the wake of recently released official GDP growth numbers for the month of April-June 2019 that show only a meagre of 5% GDP growth rate. This single-digit rate of growth of GDP is the lowest in the past six years.
"The state of the economy today is deeply worrying. Last quarter's GDP growth rate of 5% signals that were in midst of a prolonged slowdown," Singh said.
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"India has potential to grow at a much faster rate but all-round mismanagement by Modi govt has resulted in this slowdown," he added.
The 5% GDP growth rate for the last April-June 2019 quarter is a sharp 0.8 % decline from the previous quarter. Manmohan Singh blamed the "man-made blunders" of GST and demonetisation as the reason for the current state of Indian Economy.
"It is particularly distressing that the manufacturing sector's growth is tottering at 0.6%. This makes it clear that our economy has not recovered from the man-made blunders of demonetisation and a hastily implemented GST," he said.
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Singh also said that the policies of the Modi-led government are resulting in a huge "job-less" growth. "The Modi government’s policies are resulting in massive job-less growth. More than 3.5 lakh jobs have been lost in the automobile sector alone. There will similarly be large scale job losses in the informal sector, hurting our most vulnerable workers," he said.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi took a jibe at ruling party's slogan of "acche din" saying that even though the BJP blows the "trumpet" of good days but the fall in GDP growth numbers suggest that the party has "punctured the economy."
Posting on twitter with a hashtag 'EconomyCrisis' she also attacked the government over declining rupee and the lack of employment opportunities.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who is known for his controversial remarks, said that India needs both "boldness" and "knowledge" to save it from an economic crashdown but today it has neither.
"Get ready to say goodbye to Rs 5 trillion if no new economic policy is forthcoming. Neither boldness alone or knowledge alone can save the economy from a crash. It needs both. Today we have neither," Swamy said.
(Inputs from ANI)
