Reacting to the decision of Standard & Poor’s to keep India’s ratings “stable” and not go for upgrade as Moody’s has done, the Congress has said that the government, after wrecking the economy, is trying to change the narrative with ratings from external agencies.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said here on Friday that the government was in such a “pitiful state” that it was dependent on “dubious” certificates from external agencies.
“All parameters are down, they have shaved off more than 2% of the GDP; job losses are at the highest, credit off-take is the lowest in 65 years; manufacturing is weak; and trade deficit is growing,” Mr. Sharma said.
He questioned the rating agencies which were waking up when all parameters of the economy were “in the red”. These were the very agencies which had given good grades to Lehman Brothers before its epic fall, he said.
Sole responsibility
Mr. Sharma accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being solely responsible for creating a “mess” of the economy, and charged him with being in “arrogant denial”.
“How can they celebrate all these rating certificates. It is time to mourn the state of Indian economy,” he said.
He said that notwithstanding the government’s rhetoric on fighting black money, the menace had only increased.
Pouring black money
“They need not look any further than Gujarat. The way they are splurging money there, it is very clear it is black money,” Mr. Sharma said.
Mr. Modi and all Ministers were going to camp in Gujarat for the campaign, leaving all policy decisions to bureaucrats, Mr. Sharma said. “It wouldn’t matter anyway as all decisions in this government are centralised in the Prime Minister’s Office; so all Ministers are free to go on padyatras ,” he said.
