GDP growth declined due to demonetisation: Congress

Congress general secretary B K Hariprasad today accused the BJP president Amit Shah of presenting "fake" statistics, and claimed that GDP growth declined after the demonetisation.
"The economy has witnessed a steep decline due to the demonetisation. When the UPA government left the office, the GDP growth was 6.7 per cent which has now declined to five percent," Hariprasad said at a press conference here today.
Asked about Shah's claims over GDP growth, the Congress leader referred to cases of fake encounters in Gujarat in which Shah had faced allegations, and added, "Shah is also good at presenting fake statistics."

Hariprasad, who is Congress' in-charge for Chhattisgarh, was in Raipur as a part of his party's national campaign to highlight 'failures' of the NDA government.
The BJP government at the Centre can not understand how to save the "falling" economy and is busy coining slogans, he said.
The Narendra Modi government has given unlimited powers to the Income Tax department which is now raiding and harassing honest taxpayers for no reason, he said.

Despite fall in the international crude prices, the government is keeping the petrol and diesel prices high, he said.
Even seven months after the demonetisation, the government has failed to inform people about the amount of money which returned to the banks, he said.

The law and order situation in the country has deteriorated, he claimed.
"Murders and rapes are being reported frequently in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other areas. Atrocities on Dalits have increased. The situation in Kashmir is out of control. For the first time in the history, curfew was imposed for 130 days in the valley. Our jawans were attacked brutally on the border," he said.
"Prime minister Narendra Modi has no time to meet the families of farmers, but when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tried to meet the kin of the affected farmers (in Madhya Pradesh) he was stopped," Hariprasad said.

"Protests in Neemuch, Mandsaur and Dewas were not carried out by Congress workers...But it's a birthright of Congress to stand by farmers," he said, when asked about an FIR against Congress MLA for inciting farmers during the protests.
He however added that Congress never defends any kind of violence, and asked why no action has been taken against senior BJP leaders for giving provocative speeches.