Did PM Modi lie to the nation on I-Day? Congress does a fact-check

From the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on the occasion of the 73rd Independence Day. As is usual, Modi has made some tall claims and most of them have turned out to be lies. This year too, he erred in his speech and the Congress has fact-checked him.

One of the highlights of the speech was Modi congratulating himself and his government for the abrogation of Article 370 within 10 weeks of having come to power. With no freedom fighter to claim as their own, Modi said that by nullifying Article 370, they had taken an important step towards fulfilling Sardar Patel's dreams.

Congress has, however, pointed PM Modi and his party BJP to the truth. Sardar Patel was the proponent of Article 370 and in fact, he was one of its architects. They have requested BJP to stop maligning the work of Sadar Patel.

Moving on to address Modi’s claim that 'One nation-One Constitution’ has finally become a reality, Congress said the ‘One Nation, One Constitution’ has been ripped to shreds by Modi and his government by the unilateral and manner in which Article 370 was and J&K was dismembered.

Taking a potshot, the Congress quipped, “ One shudders at the thought of what this "democratic" govt will do next”.

As has become the norm, Modi said the economy was doing great and was on it’s way to become the $5 trillion economy. Congress underscored the fact that to become the $5 trillion economy, the growth rate must be kept at 9% consistently, with a total investment rate of 38% of GDP. However, currently India has an investment rate of 31.3% with a growth rate of 6.8%.

Again lying about the economy and investments, Modi said the whole world wanted to trade with India since the government is stable and the policy predictable. What Modi forgot to add, the Congress said, was that FDI growth has hit a five-year low, trade deficit has been the highest since 2012-2013, exports have dropped and the US has ended special trade treatment for India.

The Congress said that this government was solely responsible for reducing international investment in India, ruining trade relations with key partners and destroying the export industry in the country.

PM Modi advocated for changing our thought process, but only in terms of infrastructure and not the unruly behaviour his partymen are known for. He said that to meet global benchmarks, the government would be investing Rs 100 lakh crore for infrastructure development.

Congress called these announcements grandstanding whose aim was to attract attention from the media or spectators. Congress has just one question - Where was the money coming from?

The party pointed out that the current government’s tax revenue growth has fallen to 1.4% from 22.1%, the outstanding liabilities have been understated by Rs 7.1 lakh crore and India’s GDP had fallen below 5.8%.

In his speech, Modi patted his back for the ‘successful’ implementation of GST. Congress had pointed out that since GST has 5 tax slabs, "One Nation, One Tax" is far from reality. Congress also highlighted that the poorly implemented GST resulted in a massive loss to the economy and forced the closure of multiple MSMEs.

In an another instance of grandstanding, Modi said that India became a $2 trillion economy and in five years his government added another $1 trillion in five years forgetting that till 1947, a negative growth was more frequent for the Indian economy. The country was hopelessly poor as a result of steady deindustrialisation by Britain and the abject poverty and sharp social differences had cast doubts on India’s survival as one nation. In fact, India’s share of world income was 3.8% in 1952.

India set up the Planning Commission to oversee the entire range of planning, including resource allocation, implementation and appraisal of five-year plans. And in fact, the plan was a success with the economy growing at an annualized 3.6%, beating the target of 2.1%.

Congress pointed out yet again that Modi could call India a $3 trillion economy because of the sustained efforts of Indians, the prudent five year plans and the success of previous governments. Taking a dig, Congress said, “The economy was handed over to Modi on a silver platter & he still managed to ruin it.”

Pointing to the unilateral way in which the Modi government abrogated Article 370 and passed the Triple Talaq Bill, the Congress said only Modi could take ‘anti-democratic and anti-Constitutional decisions which trample on the rights of citizens.