PM's mismanagement decelerated India's growth: Cong

With the Union Budget coming up, the Congress on Wednesday attempted to show what they termed the "stark truth" of declining growth, soaring inflation and vanishing jobs.

"...the stark truth is that the Modi government can't shirk from the responsibility of 'gross economic mismanagement' that it has heaped  on our robust economy," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement here.

He said the GDP growth had slowed to a four-year-old low from 7.5% in 2014-15 to an estimated 6.5% in 2017-18, while the Gross Value Added, considered a true sub-measure of economic activity, has witnessed a steep fall from the 7.2% in 2014-15 to an estimated 6.1% in 2017-18.

"Modi government's gross economic mismanagement has decelerated the India story," he said even as the prime minister convened a meeting of his Economic Advisory Council ahead of the Union Budget,  which will be presented on February 1.

Surjewala said Modi's promise of fixing the minimum support price  by adding 50% to the cultivation cost has turned out to be the "biggest hoax" played on the farmers, who are now forced to throw their produce on the road.

"The dismal 1.9% average agriculture growth is a testimony to the pain of farmers," he said.

The Congress leader  said growth in the manufacturing sector has also come down and unemployment has increased.

He also claimed there was a slowdown in the country's real estate and the manufacturing sectors.