Kolkata: Questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on issues of economic setbacks, national security and the COVID-19 pandemic, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury on Wednesday said the Union government was a “failure” on all the three fronts.
Chowdhury, who is also the Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, alleged that the Centre was “sleeping” during Chinese intrusion in Ladakh, and sought to know why it was “apprehensive” of holding a discussion on the matter in Parliament.
“Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi silent on issues related to the economy, national security and the COVID-19 pandemic? He should speak up… On all these three fronts, the Union government has been a complete failure.
“The Centre, instead of accepting its failures, is busy hiding them by presenting misleading facts and figures to divert attention,” Chowdhury said at a press conference at Beharampore in Murshidabad district.
The veteran Congress leader further pointed out that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its report, has stated that the pandemic has hit hard the country’s economy, and wondered if the central government would contradict the findings of the organisation.
“During the last Parliament session, the Union government was apprehensive of holding a discussion on Ladakh and economy. What is there to hide? When the Chinese army was intruding into our territory, the government was sleeping.
“Our army fought bravely, and we are proud of it. But it is the failure of the political leadership… the crisis was not handled well,” Chowdhury stated.
He said that the Centre’s “faulty policies” were to blame for the migrant crisis, following the outbreak of COVID-19, and cautioned that it was high time the Union government took steps to revive the economy.
“Crores of people lost jobs amid the pandemic. The Centre has failed in controlling the situation. If our economy is doing well or even recovering, should we then say that the IMF is bringing out false reports? Why is the government not contradicting IMF’s report, in that case?” he said
The IMF had last week said that the Indian economy, severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is projected to contract by a massive 10.3 per cent this year.
However, it affirmed that the country is likely to bounce back with an impressive 8.8 per cent growth rate in 2021, thus regaining the position of the fastest-growing emerging economy, surpassing China’s projected growth rate of 8.2 per cent.
