Cong says economic slowdown is 'man-made disaster'

Panaji: Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh has hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government for the economic slowdown in the country, dubbing it as a “man-made disaster”.

He said the economy is being run on emotions, false stories and gaudy explanations rather than on logic and facts.

“The current economic crisis is a man-made disaster, with demonetisation, hasty implementation of the GST, wrong policies and very often policy rollbacks, which caused the disastrous economic crisis that India is facing today,” he said on Saturday.

He was in Goa to deliver a keynote address on the ‘current state of economic crisis’ organised by the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee.

“If the informal economy is into the negative, where will the shortfall in the growth rates come from?” he asked.

He claimed the actual growth rate will be in negative, if the negative growth of informal sector is accounted for.

“The Narendra Modi-led government has converted India’s demographic dividend into demographic disaster,” the Congress leader alleged.

On the issue of the crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, he demanded that an FIR be registered immediately against all its directors.

He said one of the bank’s directors is the son of a BJP MLA from Mumbai.

“We demand safety and refund of people’s hard-earned money which has got stuck in the PMC Bank. Depositors should be allowed to withdraw their funds,” he said.

Citing many regulatory lapses, including massive under-reporting of non-performing assets, the RBI has put a slew of restrictions on PMC Bank for next six months.