Rahul Gandhi wondered how the wealth of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “favourite friend” had multiplied eightfold during the pandemic, his query coming on a day the Congress flagged the sharp rise in India’s debt in recent years.

“How did the wealth of Prime Minister’s favourite friend increase eight times during the pandemic (Covid)?” Rahul, leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted on Sunday.

“In one year, how did the wealth of the Prime Minister’s friend jump 46%? The media kept diverting people’s attention and the Prime Minister’s ‘friend’ kept picking pockets. Gareebon ki kamai, mitron ne churai (The friends stole the earnings of the poor).”

While Rahul did not name anyone on Sunday, the Congress has been highlighting how the earnings of the Adani Group skyrocketed at a time people were struggling for survival amid the Covid pandemic. It has cited findings by international agencies and said that Adani earned Rs 1,002 crore daily in 2020-21.

“The Modi government is burying our future generations in debt — the per capita debt on every Indian increased from Rs 43,124 to Rs 109,373 in the last 9 years,” Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said.

“Modi’s economics has delivered rising debts, rising unemployment and rising inequality.”

Vallabh continued: “The total outstanding debt of the Government of India, which was Rs 55.87 lakh crore as on March 31, 2014, is estimated to go up to Rs 155.31 lakh crore by March 31, 2023.

“By the end of the financial year 2023, each Indian will owe Rs 109,373, a loan they have never taken. On March 31, 2014, the debt per Indian was Rs 43,124. But in the last 9 years, the debt per Indian has become 2.53 times what it was in 2014. In absolute terms, the debt per Indian increased by Rs 66,249.

Vallabh added: “As per the International Monetary Fund, for 2022, our debt-to-GDP was 83 per cent, far above our peers, emerging markets and developing economies, which have an average debt of 64.5 per cent.”

Vallabh said the Modi government had delivered a K-shaped recovery (where different sections of the population experience different rates of recovery).

“As per the Oxfam report, the wealthiest 5 per cent in India now own more than 60 per cent of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3 per cent of the wealth,” he said.

“On the other side, 64 per cent of the total Rs 14.83 lakh crore in the goods and services tax (GST) came from the bottom 50 per cent of the population, with only 3 per cent of the GST coming from the top 10 per cent.”

Vallabh asked the Prime Minister: “From 1947 till March 31, 2014, the total debt of the Government of India increased to Rs 55.87 lakh crore; why, in the last 9 years, has it grown to Rs 155.31 lakh crore? Why is the money borrowed just helping in a K-shaped recovery, with 50 per cent of the population owning 3 per cent of the total wealth and ending up paying 64 per cent of the GST collected?”