File photo of the leader of Congress, P Chidambaram.
One day after a 24% drop in GDP signaled India’s worst economic contraction on record, Chidambaram confronted Sitharaman for his “act of God” comment, calling it a man-made disaster.
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Congress leader P Chidambaram criticized the Union’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday for blaming the coronavirus for the country’s current economic situation. A day after a 24% drop in GDP signaled India’s worst economic contraction on record, Chidambaram confronted Sitharaman for his “act of God” comment, saying, “Don’t blame God for a disaster caused by the man”.
“You actually have to thank God. God has blessed the country’s farmers. The pandemic is a natural disaster. But you are compounding the pandemic, a natural disaster, with a man-made disaster,” Chidambaram told NDTV in a interview. .
Sitharaman had previously blamed the pandemic in response to the states’ demand for compensation due to GST losses. “This year we are facing an extraordinary situation. We are facing an act of God in which we can even see a contraction,” he said.
Questioning Senior Economic Advisor KV Subramanian’s claim that the economy would see a better performance in the coming quarters thanks to a V-shaped recovery, Chidambaram said: “I don’t know if anyone is taking the Senior Economic Advisor seriously. Last time you had a conversation with the Prime Minister? You’ve been predicting a V-shaped recovery for months. Then you saw green shoots when the Finance Minister said so. Where are the green shoots?
Chidamabaram said the data Subramanian relied on had been disproved by the Reserve Bank of India.
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India’s GDP for the April-June quarter shrinks 23.9%, registering the worst contraction in history
Speaking of the road to recovery, Chidambaram said, “This is the time to borrow, spend, boost demand, put money in the hands of the poor to increase consumption.”
On the ‘Aatma-nirbhar package’ during the pandemic, the former minister simply said: “It’s a joke.”
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