BJP interested only in giving speeches, writing blogs: Kapil Sibal on decline in GDP growth

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Friday hit out at the NDA-led central government stating that its leaders are more interested in giving speeches and writing blogs than working towards the development of the country.

His statement came a day after the economic growth of India slowed to a low of 6.6 per cent in the October-December period of the current fiscal year 2018-19.

"It is a very, very shocking state of affairs that after an absolute majority that this government had, they had a free run on the economy, they could have brought in some radical changes, but they lost out these opportunities. The latest figure shows that the core sector growth is only 1.6 per cent. For the last six quarters, this has been the lowest rate of growth (6.6 per cent) in this quarter," Sibal told ANI here.

"As per the date given out, the GDP for this year will only be 7 per cent. This is very unfortunate because they had a great opportunity to turn things around. They lost that opportunity. All that they are interested in is giving speeches, writing blogs, telling the world how India has changed for the better but the figures don't show that," he emphasised.

He added, "The lives of farmers are getting from bad to worse. Agricultural growth is at its lowest. The common man is not earning enough money. The various scams and NPAs have brought down the pace of the economy."

Ahead of Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's arrival from Pakistan, Sibal said, "The whole country is waiting for Abhinandan to come back and embrace him. We all are happy. He is a great son of India. We must salute his bravery. While we do that, we should not forget that terror across the border will continue, attacks on India and our jawans will continue. Speeches will not help solve their problem."

He added, "The whole world now knows that Pakistan has the roots of terrorism. China has supported Pakistan till now. We hope China will understand that they won't get any benefit by supporting Pakistan.