Hours after the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh admitted that the Indian economy was going through a difficult period, Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav on Friday wondered whether the former is aware as to who is made to bear the brunt for those mistakes.
"The Prime Minister is claiming since quite a long time that he his government has been rendering ideal governance and may be certain mistakes did take place but it was for just a brief period of few days," said Yadav.
"Now the people in the country should ask him to explain as to why they have been compelled to bear the onus because of these mistakes of just a brief period. The economists, industrialists and the rest of the people should be asked what will be the outcome of this mistake in one year," he added.
Defending the UPA Government's handling of the economy, the Prime Minister earlier in the day hit out at the opposition, saying 'our political critics focus on the experience of one bad year and added that this makes for good television but it is a very distorted picture.
Addressing the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Dr. Singh said: "Let me address the issue of UPA Government's performance. Our political critics focus on the experience of one bad year. This makes for good television but it is a very distorted picture."
Dr. Singh said his government's record was far better than the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime in terms of growth and other economic indicators.
"The average growth rate in the eight years of the UPA from 2004-05 to 2012-13 was 8.2 percent per annum. This is much better than the 5.7 percent reached in the previous eight years," he pointed out.
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Dr. Singh further said: " I have already mentioned that agriculture did much better in the Eleventh Plan than in the Tenth Plan. This is reflected in real per capita rural consumption rising at 2.9 percent per year between 2004-05 and 2011-12 compared with only one percent between 1993-94 and 2004-05."
"Rural real wages have also risen much faster (6.8 percent per year in the 11th Plan as compared to an average of 1.1 percent per year in the ten years preceding it)," he added.
Dr. Singh further said the percentage of population below the poverty line declined at 0.75 percentage points per year before our government came to office in 2004-05. It has fallen more than 2 percentage points per year between 2004-05 and 2011-12.
"I think this is a record that any government can be proud of. I agree we have had one bad year. I assure you we will get out of it," he added.