PM Modi's 'Stale Lectures' Cannot Gloss Over 'Failures' Affecting Every Aspect Of Economy: Kharge

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticised PM Modi on the status of the economy. Kharge pointed out that household savings are at a 50-year low.

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the state of the economy, saying his "stale lectures" repeating the same old spins cannot gloss over his "outright failures" affecting every aspect of the country's economy. "Modinomics is a curse to India's economy," he said on X, raising issues like household indebtedness, price rise and the manufacturing sector's woes, and claimed that "Make in India has spectacularly failed".

"Narendra Modi ji, your stale lectures repeating the same old spins cannot gloss over your outright failures affecting every aspect of India's economy!" he said. Kharge said household liabilities/indebtedness has grown by a whopping 241 per cent from 2013-14 to 2022-23 in actual terms. Household debt as a percentage of GDP is at an all-time high of 40 per cent, he said.

Kharge pointed out that household savings are at a 50-year low and that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the consumption of Indian families is more than their income. "The cost of home-cooked Veg Thali increased by 11 per cent in September 2024 compared to last year. BJP imposed price rise and destruction of unorganised sector is responsible for this mess!" he said.

"In 10 years, 'Make in India' has spectacularly failed as the gains of India's rising exports during Congress-UPA have been discarded by your policies," Kharge said. "India's Export Growth' - Congress-UPA: 2004 to 2009 -186.59 per cent, 2009 to 2014 -94.39 per cent; BJP-NDA: 2014-2019 - 21.14 per cent, 2019-2023 - 56.8 per cent.

"No wonder, the average growth rate of the manufacturing sector between 2014-15 and 2023-24 is just 3.1 per cent (BJP-NDA) whereas between 2004-05 and 2013-14, the average growth rate was 7.85 per cent(Congress-UPA)," he said. This "disastrous policy" has reduced the share of workers employed in manufacturing to 11.4 per cent (2023-24) from 15.85 per cent (2017-18), Kharge said.

Diamond workers in Surat are facing challenges as their salaries have been reduced up to 30 per cent and major diamond units are forced to operate only four days a week, the Congress president said. In the last six months, more than 60 diamond artisans have committed suicide, he claimed.

"In your propaganda to corner the Congress party on MGNREGA, you have deliberately failed to allocate more funds to this demand-driven scheme. "Your government has artificially reduced demand by delaying wages and not funding Opposition (ruled) states on time," Kharge said.

The demand for work under MGNREGA has decreased to just 1.6 crore in August 2024, the lowest monthly demand since October 2022, he said.