BJP criticism of UPA Govt a 'poor attempt' to mislead people: Cong

Congress today hit out at Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her "bitter criticism" of the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government's performance, saying it is "delusional, unwarranted and a poor attempt of misleading the people".

Instead of giving an account of the BJP government's performance or achievements after the party's National Executive meeting in Bangalore, her calculated statement of 'Congress Mukt Bharat (Congress-free India)' is "a poor diversionary tactic" to divert attention from the dismal performance of the BJP government and non-fulfilment of the tall promises made to the people.

"It is only a matter of time when people of this country will make it a 'Modi Mukt Bharat'," Congress spokesperson RPN Singh said in a statement.

He said that the Minister needs to be educated about the commendable achievements of the UPA government.

Singh said India's GDP quadrupled from 500 billion US Dollars to a trillion US Dollars during 2004-2014 when the UPA was in power, while the per capita income increased almost three-folds from Rs 24,000 in 2004 to Rs 69,000 in 2014.

"Foreign Exchange Reserves of the country went up from US dollar 118 billion to US dollar 310 billion between 2004 and 2014. Exports had increased from 60 billion US dollar in 2004 to 320 billion US dollar in 2014," he said.

Asserting that the Congress does not need any certificate from the BJP on the record of its performance, Singh said it is borne out from facts.

"In fact, the BJP has to answer for the present state of affairs. Under the watch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, the exports have fallen and manufacturing has nose dived to a record low. The BJP is trying to mask the true picture by creating a smokescreen through publicity and propaganda," the Congress leader alleged.

He said that Congress is duty bound to "expose the nonperformance" of the Modi-led BJP government and its anti-people, anti-poor and anti-farmer policies.

"On the land bill, the Congress and other like-minded political parties have exposed the BJP's agenda of bringing changes in the land acquisition bill, in violation of the national consensus and is deliberately hitting at safeguards to protect Indian farmers and the food security of the country," he said.