Cong slams Modi govt's handling of economy

The Congress today alleged that the economy is in bad shape under the Modi government and questioned how it will get the Rs 50,000 crore "viagra boost" it has planned for the economy.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal accused the Modi government of "playing with the life of the common man" with its handling of the economy. Citing the high fuel prices, he alleged that the poor were being taxed to fill the coffers of the rich.
"They (the BJP) have no experience of running the country. They can make governments fall, but not make the country. They can break the nation but not unite it," he told reporters.

Referring to the state of economy and the stimulus the government is planning to provide, the former Union Minister said, "This government now realises that they need a boost of 'viagra' to do something about the economy."
He said the government now wants to inject Rs 40,000- 50,000 crores into the economy, because they know "no nation can survive like this".
"Which sector of the economy is doing well in the country except the digital sector," he asked.

Sibal also asked the government to clarify where would it get the Rs 40,000 to 50,000 crore to be infused into the economy.

He claimed there is a shortfall of Rs 65,000 crore because "their privatisation has failed and their spectrum sale is not getting through".
Sibal also alleged that while the BJP talks of ease of doing business, the result has been that people have ceased to do business.
"There is no such thing as ease of doing business. People have just stopped doing business," he said.
Sibal also claimed that the government will not be able to keep the fiscal deficit committed at 3.2 per cent and it can go up to 3.4 per cent.
"If after three-and-a-half years, this is the state of economy, then where will this nation go," he asked.

"To do politics is one thing, but don't play around with the lives of the people of India. This is playing around with the common man's life," he said, referring to the state of the economy.
Sibal said the NPAs of industrialists stand at Rs 8.80 lakh crore under the NDA government, against Rs 2.5 lakh crore during the UPA.
"What does this mean? That the rich have used the system to use our money and the poor are being taxed. This is the great philosophy behind the finance minister's vision of India," he said.
He claimed the disposable income of people in the country has come down to 9.5 per cent, against 14 per cent earlier, while prices have risen."What will the poor do?"

"Their whole politics is based on showing off," he said, and cited the bullet train project.
The former Union minister claimed the economic growth will be less than seven per cent as exports are falling and the reason for it is demonetisation and GST.
Sibal said exports have continuously fallen in the last 19 months. He said the formula accepted globally is that the economy will rise by seven per cent if there is an export growth of 15 per cent.
"We rose by eight per cent because our export growth was 20 per cent," he said, while claiming high growth rate during the UPA rule.