PM silent, government clueless on economy: Chidambaram

A day after being released from Tihar jail, former finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday was breathing fire over Modi government's handling of the economy saying India would be lucky if it ended the current fiscal with 5% growth.

Addressing a press conference at AICC Headquarters here, Chidambaram also termed as “unprecedented” the RBI's growth forecast of 5% for the current fiscal and accused the government of being clueless about the economy.

“I cannot recall an instance where between February 2019 and December 2019, the RBI reduced its forecast from 7.4% to 5%. This is unprecedented. Either the RBI was completely incompetent in making its first assessment in February 2019 or the government has been extremely incompetent in managing the economy in the last eight months,” Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram said the government was stubborn and “mulish” in defending “catastrophic” mistakes – ranging from demonetisation to “regulatory overkill” and “tax terrorism”.

“The government is making mistakes. It is wrong. And they are wrong because they are clueless,” said the senior Congress leaders who was arrested first by the CBI and later by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the INX Media money-laundering case.

He said every number pointed in the direction of a floundering economy, accusing the government of being in “denial” and “incapable” of putting growth back on track.

“Prime Minister has been unusually silent on the economy. He has left it to his ministers to indulge in bluff and bluster. The net result, as 'The Economist' put it, is that the government has turned out to be an 'incompetent manager' of the economy,” Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram also taunted Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 'I don't eat onions' remarks in the Lok Sabha. “Does she eat avocado,” Chidambaram asked dersively when asked to comment on the Finance Minister.

Reponding to Modi government's oft-repeated remarks of inheriting a problem-riddled economy, Chidambaram said the BJP's legacy is what they leave behind and “what they are leaving behind is an economy in ruins”.

“BJP’s ideas of reforms include the idea that GDP is irrelevant... if this is BJP’s plan, then God save us,” Chidambaram said.