Modi govt relying on rhetoric, ignoring track record in LS polls: Moily

Congress' M Veerappa Moily criticized the Modi government for poor performance, citing high unemployment (45-year high) and low economic growth (5.9% vs UPA's 6.7%). He also highlighted the increase in crimes against women and farmers' debt, blaming the government for failing to fulfill its promises.

Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily slammed the Narendra Modi government on Friday, saying it is falling back on rhetoric instead of fighting the ongoing Lok Sabha polls on its track record of the last 10 years.

Moily said the National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO) Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report shows the unemployment rate at a 45-year high and the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) states that the unemployment rate in the age group of 20-24 years was 44.5 per cent in the October-December quarter of 2023.

''Despite the sloganeering of Modi, 'Beti Bachao Beti Padao', crimes against women rose in 10 years of PM Modi's rule,'' the former Union minister alleged in a statement.

Referring to the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) data, he pointed out that the number of crimes against women in the country increased from 3,37,922 in 2014 to 3,71,503 in 2020.

''Despite the claim that India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, our growth rate has fallen from an average of 6.7 per cent (new series) during the UPA period of 2004-14 to an average of 5.9 per cent during 2014-24,'' Moily said.

''Manmohan Singh's years as Prime Minister delivered the highest GDP growth since India's independence at 10.03 per cent in 2010-11 and maintained a healthy GDP growth rate of 7.5 per cent plus average in his 10-year reign. Narendra Modi could not achieve this target in one decade of his regime,'' he added.

Moily claimed that there has been an alarming rise in farmers' debt, as a consequence of which they are committing suicides.

''It is a great concern that the Modi government has failed to deliver on its promises of doubling farmers' income by 2022. The UPA under Dr Manmohan Singh had waived Rs 77,000 crore farmers' debt. Modi has done nothing to provide solace to the suffering farmers,'' he said.

The farmers' demand for statutory support for a minimum support price (MSP) for crops, as recommended by the M S Swaminathan Committee, has also been ignored, the Congress leader said.

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