Modi, Shah are a drag on Indian democracy: Congress leader Kapil Sibal

Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said the nationwide protests against the amended citizenship law reflected that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were a "drag on Indian democracy".

Sibal's comments come after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had on Monday lowered India's economic growth estimate for the current fiscal to 4.8 per cent and listed the country's much-lower-than-expected GDP numbers as the single-biggest drag on its global growth forecast for two years.

"IMF lowers India's GDP for 2019 to 4.8%. Calls it a drag on the world economy," Sibal tweeted.

"Protests of people, young and old, across India (who can't be recognised by the clothes they wear) Reflect that the duo Modiji and Amit Shah are a drag on Indian Democracy," the Congress leader added.

Ahead of the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, India-born IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath had said growth in the country slowed sharply owing to stress in the non-bank financial sector and weak rural income growth.

India's growth is estimated at 4.8 per cent in 2019, projected to improve to 5.8 per cent in 2020 and 6.5 percent in 2021 (1.2 and 0.9 percentage point lower than in the October WEO), supported by monetary and fiscal stimulus as well as subdued oil prices, the IMF said.