From economy to Kashmir, nothing is normal: Cong on 100 days of Modi govt 2.0

The Congress on Sunday targeted the NDA government on a range of issues including the state of economy, arrest of opposition leaders, and handling of Kashmir issue as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second innings at the Centre completed 100 days in the office on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the economy is in a shape; Kashmir is under restrictions but the government is claiming that everything is normal.

"Everything is abnormal in Kashmir but they say everything is normal. The economy is dwindling; bank's NPA is growing but they maintain it's normal," he said.

Sibal claimed that 30 million jobs have been lost since the demonetization and several industries are in deep trouble resulting in the closure of production plants.

"Around 3.5 lakh workers have been laid off and 300 dealerships were shut down in auto industry alone. Honda reportedly laid off 700 contract workers while Nishan cut over 1,700 jobs in India. Mahindra and Mahindra retrenched about 1,500 workers," he said.

He further said: "Hero announced the closure of its plant for four days. Bush announced production halt for 13 days."

He said there was a slowdown in real estate due to decisions taken by the government, adding that there were 4.5 lakh unsold apartments in eight major cities across India.

Continuing its sustained attack on the government, the Congress leader said that India's unemployment rate stands at 8.2 per cent, saying that the demonetization was to be blamed for this.

"They do not admit even now that this situation has been created due to demonetization," he said.

Sibal, a former Union Minister, alleged that the government was acting against opposition leaders due to political vendetta and accused it of shielding its own leaders.

"Why did they support Kuldeep Singh Senger? They are shielding Mukul Roy in Shardha chit fund scam. Their people are honest even if there is evidence against them," he said.