PM Narendra Modi addresses the nation from the Red Fort on Independence Day (AFP)
The Congress today launched a point-by-point broadside against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech on Independence Day that praised the centre's economic policies. The Congress claimed it has debunked PM Modi's comments that the centre would invest Rs 100 lakh crore for infrastructure development and the national tax GST has made "one nation, one tax" possible.
"Grandstanding: Seek to attract favourable attention from spectators or media - In other words, PM Modi's modus operandi. Given the state of the economy & existing expenditure on infrastructure development, we just have one question, where is the money?" the Congress tweeted, along with a graphic that claims the economy was not in a good shape.
The Congress's attack on PM Modi's first Independence Day speech in his second term came amid severe stress in key sectors, including automobile and fast-moving consumer goods.
A credit crunch in non-banking financial companies that provide a bulk of loans to consumers who don't want to approach big banks has led to a cascading effect, say analysts. Automakers have frozen production and cut hundreds of jobs.
Analysts say there is contraction in several sectors that will have an effect on consumption.
On PM Modi's comments that the "World is eager to explore trade with India", the Congress tweeted, "That's rich coming from the man wholly responsible for reducing international investment in India, ruining trade relations with key partners, weakening the rupee to historic lows & devastating the export industry in the country."
The Congress said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has five slabs. "One nation, one tax is far from reality. It is also our duty to remind the PM when he speaks from the Red Fort, that the poorly implemented GST resulted in a massive loss to the economy & forced closure of multiple MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises)," the Congress tweeted.
The centre maintains the initial difficulties to businesses in switching to GST have smoothened out now and the national tax has started to show results.
Industrialists, especially those in the automotive sector, have sought help from the government to stop the fall in consumer demand by easing credit.
However, in its annual general meeting last week, Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman Mukesh Ambani said the ongoing slowdown in some sectors of the economy is temporary. "The slowdown in some sectors of the economy is temporary. The fundamentals of the Indian economy are very strong," said Mr Ambani, who endorsed PM Modi's target of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2024.