Congress claims India’s debt under Modi government risen to INR 155 lakh crore, demands white paper on economy

NEW DELHI — The Congress on Saturday alleged that India’s debt has nearly “tripled” to INR 155 lakh crore in the nine years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded a white paper on the state of the economy.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate claimed that the Modi government’s “economic mismanagement” is responsible for the present state of the economy and claimed that INR 100 lakh crore of debt has been added since the present dispensation assumed charge in 2014.

“As chief minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi used to blame those on the other side of the political spectrum as inefficient, incompetent and corrupt — adjectives that today suit him and his government more than anyone else.

“After ruining India’s economic growth story, creating huge unemployment, raging inflation, Mr Modi has done the unthinkable, which is an addition of over INR 100 lakh crore to India’s debt, which is at an alarming level,” she said at a press conference.

The Congress leader also said India’s debt in 2014 was at INR 55 lakh crore, which has now gone past INR 155 lakh crore.

She claimed that India’s debt under 14 prime ministers in 67 years was INR 55 lakh crore while Modi alone has increased it by over INR 100 lakh crore.

“Economic management is not the same thing as headline management. It cannot be done through teleprompters and definitely not through WhatsApp forwards. We demand a white paper on the Indian economy because the fault lines are only getting deeper,” she said.