 "Modi govt driving people into poverty: Congress on consumer spend decline")
The Congress on Friday attacked the Modi government over an official survey which reportedly points to a fall in consumer spending for the first time in four decades in 2017-18, with former party chief Rahul Gandhi saying that "Modinomics stinks so bad" the Centre has to hide its own reports.
Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took a swipe at the government, saying the Modi dispensation is making history by "driving people into poverty".
A media report cited the latest consumption expenditure survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO) to claim that consumer spending fell for the first time in more than four decades in 2017-18, primarily driven by slackening rural demand.
The report also claimed the NSO report was approved to be released on June 19 this year but was withheld by the government agency owing to its "adverse" findings.
"Modinomics stinks so bad, the government has to hide its own reports," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet, tagging the news report.
Priyanka Gandhi tweeted, "Consumer spending in India has collapsed. Successive governments have striven tirelessly to combat poverty and empower the people. This government is making history by driving people into poverty: while rural India faces the dire consequences of their policies, the BJP ensures that their corporate friends become richer by the day."
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that the NSO report on Household Consumer Expenditure 2017-18, which has been leaked, shows the average amount of money spent by a person in a month fell by 3.7 per cent to Rs 1,446 in 2017-18 from Rs 1,501 in 2011-12.
The most serious matter is that even the consumption of food has declined, Khera said.
The economic situation of rural India, which is more than 60 per cent, is terrible, he claimed.