Why are there traffic jams if automobile sales declining, asks BJP MP Virendra Singh

BJP Lok Sabha MP Virendra Singh Mast on Thursday denied any condition of an economic slowdown in the country while arguing that if there is a decline in automobile sales then why are there traffic jams on the roads.

Mast, a Member of Parliament from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh said that an atmosphere of the economic slowdown is being created to defame the government.

"An atmosphere is being created that there is an economic slowdown. To defame the nation and government people are saying that the automobile sector has slowed down. If there is a decline in automobile sales then why are there traffic jams on the roads? There are 20 vehicles in one home. You never decide what should be the relation between consumer and production," he said in Lok Sabha today.

The opposition parties have been criticising the government over the current state of the economy and have also raised the issue in the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament.

Recently, Opposition MPs had walked out of Rajya Sabha during Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's reply on the economic situation of the country.

Moody's Investors Service had said that India's economic slowdown is lasting longer than previously expected and pegged its forecast for the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the country at 5.6 per cent in 2019 calendar year.

"We have revised down our growth forecast for India. We now forecast slower real GDP growth of 5.6 per cent in 2019 from 7.4 per cent in 2018," it said in the Global Macro Outlook for 2020-21.