Congress blames Modi, Jaitley for ‘monumental mismanagement’ of economy

New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for "monumental mismanagement" of the economy and demanded a white paper on its condition.

"PM Modi is singularly responsible for inflicting grave damage on the economy by his reckless decisions including demonetisation and hasty imposition of a flawed GST. The disastrous implementation has hurt the industry, small entrepreneurs and traders," party leader Anand Sharma said.

"India is in a real danger of slipping into economic depression. The government must release a white paper on the state of Indian economy, to restore the health of PSU banks through urgently needed recapitalisation and the measures it proposes to arrest the free fall."

The former Union Minister said Modi and Jaitley were "in denial and are clueless on addressing the crisis of their own making". "They are guilty of monumental mismanagement of the Indian economy."

He said the informal sector has been badly hit due to government's decisions.

"Small businesses are shutting down resulting in more job losses. A cash flow issue has been created for the industry with shortage of capital for the exporters. Tax terrorism has been let loose as the input credit refunds are not made," he said.

"Prime Minister remains unmoved, unapologetic and arrogant. He continues to evade responsibility which is essential in a parliamentary democracy," Sharma added.