Vikrant Shekhawat : Nov 03, 2024, 06:00 AM
Indian Economy: There is a fierce debate going on between the government and the opposition at the central and state level regarding the economy of India. In central politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power and the Congress is in the opposition. A new war has broken out between the two parties over economic policies, which is being seen in different forms in the center and the states. While Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at the center is retaliating to the allegations of the Congress and claiming the strength of the Indian economy, in Karnataka, Congress Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is giving a befitting reply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the economic progress of the state.Hardeep Singh Puri's retort to CongressUnion Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched a scathing attack on Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. Puri responded to the allegations leveled by Kharge on the Modi government on the social media platform 'X' through data. Kharge on Friday had questioned PM Modi on various issues using adjectives like lies, deceit, fraud, loot, and propaganda, including employment promises, inflation, GST, and India's poor ranking on the hunger index.Puri rejected Kharge's allegations and said that the Congress party is ignoring the positive changes taking place in the country. He said that due to the policies of the Modi government, 24 crore Indians have come out of multidimensional poverty. This includes construction of more than 11 crore toilets, tap water connections in 12 crore houses, 10 crore free LPG connections, 51 crore bank accounts and a three-fold increase in capital expenditure. Citing schemes like GST, Startup India, and PLI, he said that these reforms are strengthening the Indian economy and India is moving towards achieving its development goals by 2047.Puri also said that the Modi government kept the prices stable in the country despite the huge increase in the prices of petrol and diesel in the global market. Criticizing the previous UPA government of Congress, he said that during their time, oil bonds worth Rs 1.41 lakh crore were issued, due to which the country had to pay Rs 3.2 lakh crore. Through this statement of Puri, the government claimed that the policies of the Modi government are taking the country towards the goal of making it a developed nation.War of words on economic development in KarnatakaIn Karnataka, where the Congress is in power, a war of words is being seen between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar over the growth rate of the state. Modi had posted on X and accused the Karnataka government of focusing on "internal politics and loot" instead of development.Reacting to this, Shivakumar said that the economic progress of Karnataka is higher than the national average. Citing data from the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI), he said that the state's GDP growth rate in 2023-24 is 10.2 percent, which is higher than the national average of 8.2 percent. Shivkumar termed Modi's statement as beyond facts and said that the Prime Minister should trust reliable sources instead of his social media team. Meanwhile, the state's Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge also criticized Modi and said that the PM is making statements based on wrong data.ConclusionThis tussle between political parties on the issue of economy in India points towards a serious issue, where every party is trying to present the country's economic condition before the public from its own point of view. While the BJP at the Center is busy calling its policies a symbol of strength, the Congress government in Karnataka is claiming the success of its policies by showing the state's growth rate to be higher than the national average. Amidst this war of words, it becomes important for the general public to reach a conclusion based on correct facts and figures.