Yashwant Sinha speaks Truth to Power. Will Power now admit the Truth that economy is sinking? — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) 1506480560000

TRUTH 1: "The growth rate of 5.7% is actually 3.7% or less " says Yashwant Sinha. — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) 1506481223000

TRUTH 2: "Instilling fear in the minds of the people is the name of the new game" says Yashwant Sinha. — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) 1506481237000

Rahul Gandhi's scathing tweet on state of economy under Jaitley: 'Fasten your seat belt...wings have fallen off our plane'

NEW DELHI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter on Wednesday to deliver a caustic denouncement of the Narendra Modi government by saying "the wings have fallen of our plane" so the country needs to fasten its seat belt and "take brace position".Rahul was referring to a scathing indictment of the BJP-led government and of finance minister Arun Jaitley by one of the BJP 's own - Yashwant Sinha , a former finance minister himself. Sinha wrote an article for a leading national daily criticising Modi and Jaitley."I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister (Jaitley) has made of the economy," was Sinha's opening sentence.Sinha then said, among other things, that demonetisation was "an unmitigated economic disaster" and the Goods and Services Tax rollout was "badly conceived and poorly implemented".Then Sinha delivered his denouement."The Prime Minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters," concluded Sinha.That's what Rahul was referring to in his tweet, in which he also named the finance minister (FM).His tweet said: "Ladies & Gentlemen, this is your copilot & FM speaking. Plz fasten your seat belts & take brace position.The wings have fallen off our plane".Sinha called Jaitley "a lucky finance minister", said PM Modi is "worried" and added that his own views reflect "the sentiments of a large number of people in the BJP and elsewhere who are not speaking up out of fear. "Earlier, another former finance minister took to Twitter to talk about Sinha's column - the Congress Party's P Chidambaram.Chidambaram said Sinha's "first truth" was about what the latter thinks is the actual growth of the country - lower than what the government has been touting.Here's what Sinha wrote about that:"And please note that the methodology for calculation of the GDP was changed by the present government in 2015 as a result of which the growth rate recorded earlier increased statistically by over 200 basis points on an annual basis. So, according to the old method of calculation, the growth rate of 5.7 per cent is actually 3.7 per cent or less."Sinha's "second truth" according to Chidambaram, was the former saying is the "raid raj" the Modi government is establishing.Here's an elaboration of what Sinha said about "raid raj":"The government has asked the income tax department to chase those who have made large claims. Cash flow problems have already arisen for many companies specially in the SME sector. But this is the style of functioning of the finance ministry now. We protested against raid raj when we were in opposition. Today it has become the order of the day... Instilling fear in the minds of the people is the name of the new game."