Trust the Congress to play spoilsport and talk about the economy just when the Prime Minister is warming up for a rollicking ‘Howdy Modi’ show in Houston.
As the build-up to the September 22 extravaganza was reaching its crescendo, the stakes getting higher with President Donald Trump’s participation, Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Wednesday: “Howdy economy doin’, Mr Modi? Ain’t too good it seems.”
Tagged to the tweet was a news report headlined: “A $45 billion bet on Narendra Modi’s India is unwinding.”
Rahul, who has been mostly silent since stepping down as Congress chief, could not resist reminding the Prime Minister that the economy was crying for his attention. Narendra Modi has not said a word despite the deluge of reports on the slowdown.
The Houston show on Sunday, Howdy Modi, is expected to be attended by over 50,000 people. “Howdy” is an informal greeting, used for “hello” or “how do you do”.
Before Rahul, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi too spoke of the economy in her more down-to-earth way. Tagging the same report, Priyanka tweeted: “Economic reforms don’t happen by razzmatazz, chants of five trillion and headline management. Investors don’t come by organising sponsored events in foreign countries. Investor confidence is shaken. The ground for investments is cracking.”
The Congress kept the focus on the grim news about the economy. Quoting from the latest RBI statistical handbook, Congress leader Ajay Maken told a news conference: “The RBI report makes dreadful revelations. The government has made risky investments of Rs 10.07 lakh crore of LIC money in the last five years. The total investment done since 1956 to 2014 of LIC money was Rs 11.94 lakh crore. So what the Modi government invested in five years is almost equal to investments in around 60 years.
“The government snatched only Rs 1.76 lakh crore from the RBI, but here we are talking of Rs 10.07 lakh crore of the LIC which affects almost every household in India.”
Giving examples of risky investments, Maken said, “Rs 21,000 crore of LIC was invested in 2018 into IDBI bank. The entire money got wiped out because the bank had so much NPAs and the IDBI has announced a loss of Rs 3,800 crore and 29% NPA this year. The government again decided to invest Rs 3,800 crore into IDBI this year. The LIC is being dangerously used as a bailout instrument.”
Maken said this puts at risk the hard-earned money of 29 crore policy-holders.
The RBI report also says the liability/debt of individual households have more than doubled in the last five years. “In 2012-13, the debt burden was Rs 3.5 lakh crore. In 2017-18, the debt burden is Rs 7.5 lakh crore,” he said.
