india

Updated: Sep 03, 2019 06:37 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday hit out at Manmohan Singh saying India could not achieve desired growth when he was the Prime Minister as “some used him as a puppet to promote corruption and nepotism”.

The attack came a day after Singh said the Indian economy is “in the midst of a prolonged slowdown” and blamed the Narendra Modi government’s “all-round mismanagement” for it. Singh said the economy has not yet recovered from the “man-made blunders” of demonetisation and the “hastily implemented” Goods and Services Tax.

“He [Singh] is an economist but people behind the scenes used him as a puppet to impose their laws and promote corruption and nepotism. What kind of injustice it did to the Indian economy, we all know,” said BJP spokesman Sambit Patra.

He said now the atmosphere is about “Modi hai to mumkin hai [Modi makes it possible]” as the Prime Minister has created a strong economy with good credentials over his six-year rule. Patra said Modi government’s economic policies have helped the country become one of the top world economies.

“The world economy is facing a slowdown, but we can say with happiness that the Indian economy is doing well... because of strong base and fundamentals,” he said.

Patra also hit out at Congress leader Digvijay Singh for alleging a link between the BJP and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He called it “shameful and condemnable” and sought an apology from Congress’s interim chief, Sonia Gandhi.

Singh on Saturday claimed that the BJP and Bajrang Dal took money from the ISI and also alleged that non-Muslims spied for the Pakistani agency more than Muslims.