Congress slams Suresh Angadi over his statement on economic slowdown

The Congress party on Saturday criticised Minister of State for Railways, Suresh Angadi for "making fun of people" by saying that the economy is doing fine as the airports and trains across the country are full and people are getting married.

"BJP's minister has lost is political balance and he is now making fun of the people of the country," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala told media here.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) office-bearers including party secretaries, State Congress Committee presidents and Congress Legislative Party leaders are currently holding a meeting at Congress war room in New Delhi over the economic situation in the country.

 

The meeting is being attended by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal, Harish Rawat, Ashok Gehlot, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Anand Sharma, Bhupesh Baghel among others.

Gehlot said, "The Indian government is not concerned about this. Forget the promise of giving two crore jobs, on the other hand, people are losing jobs. The youngsters are sad and farmers are committing suicide... People laugh hearing such statements."

Meanwhile, Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said, "Reputed organisations in India and abroad are saying that there is a big problem in the country regarding the economy. They are forgetting that the people will give a befitting reply to them."

Dismissing the opposition's criticism over the state of the economy, Angadi had on Friday said, "Airports are full, trains are full, people are getting married. Some people are doing this for nothing else but to malign the image of Narendra Modi."

Noting that the economy slows down every three years and will pick up soon, the Union Minister said that some people are trying to malign the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Every three years there is a fall in demand in the economy. It is a cycle. Then the economy picks up also," he said.

The opposition parties have been criticising the government over the state of the economy and plan to raise the issue in the upcoming Winter Session of the Parliament.

Moody's Investors Service had on Thursday said that India's economic slowdown is lasting longer than previously expected and pegged its forecast for the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the country at 5.6 per cent in 2019 calendar year.

"We have revised down our growth forecast for India. We now forecast slower real GDP growth of 5.6 per cent in 2019 from 7.4 per cent in 2018," it said in the Global Macro Outlook for 2020-21.