The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading the country by misrepresenting facts related to the economy and distorting facts and figures of the GDP, FDI, National Saving Rate and National Investment Rate and dared him to come out with a White Paper on the economic situation bequeathed by the UPA government.
"Today our economy is in a worrying situation. Key parameters like National Saving Rate & National Investment Rate have fallen," said senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.
"For the first time the investment rate has fallen below the saving rate," he said, at a press conference here.
Criticising Modi's interview in which he had outlined a dire scenario when he took over, Sharma, a former Union Minister, said: "The questions and answers appeared to be prepared by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)."
Modi, in an interview to CNN News18 on Friday said there was "huge disappointment" in India before the BJP-led NDA government was formed in 2014. The newspapers would be full of stories on corruption in those days and he wanted to bring a White Paper on the economic situation in the country before his government presented its first budget in 2014 but opted against it in the national interest, even at the risk of political damage.
To this, Sharma said: "After being in power for 27 months, these excuses are not expected. Instead of making comments on the previous government, Modi should talk about all of his electoral promises which have remained unfulfilled.
"Jobs have not been created. And we challenge the government to come out with a white paper to tell the country about falling investment rate to $261 million. It would have been better if he held a press conference, then he could have been asked tough questions.
"Yet again, PM Modi misled the nation. He accused the previous government, which was not required."
Alleging that the Modi government adopted the new methodology to fudge and inflate GDP numbers and changed the FDI definition, Sharma demanded the government release GDP rates of UPA's ten years under the new methodology.
Citing data, he said that the economy was better under the UPA government as GDP grew at an average of 8.5 per cent and total FDI was $193 billion.
Comparing the FDI of the present and past governments, he accused Modi for lying and said that India has received the highest level of FDI in UPA rule.
He also blamed Modi for using the Central Bureau of Investigation to "grill" Congress leaders over corruption charges.
--IANS
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