File photo of Congress leader Anand Sharma.
Shimla:
Congress leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma today asked the central government to issue a white paper on the state of Indian economy.
"It's high time the government explained why the rupee has stumbled and why investment infrastructure has come down drastically," he told reporters in Shimla.
Mr Sharma said the Narendra Modi government had created a mirage of sorts to impress people while the situation on the ground was totally different.
He said there was need to have a coherent policy to bring the economy back on the rails and expressed concern over India's foreign policy.
"Modi is visiting foreign countries frequently and wants to cover every corner of the world. We are not opposed to it. But he should not mislead the people on the international support which India has lost over the last year," the deputy leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha said.
He said the Prime Minister had yet not spoken out his government's roadmap to engage with Pakistan and had yet not told people or parliament about his dialogue with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The Congress leader said no prime minister of the country had defamed India on foreign land in speeches, but Modi did that too, which was not in the interest of the country and its people internationally.
Mr Sharma accused Mr Modi of being arrogant and centralising power.
"All the decisions are being taken by the Prime Minister's Office. There is environment of fear and uncertainty in the civil servants and one cannot expect improvement in the systems like this," he said, referring to the change of three home secretaries in the six months of the NDA regime and removal of the finance secretary overnight with his posting in tourism ministry only to last for a week.