Public debt went up by over ₹30 lakh crore in 57 months of Modi govt, says Congress

Accusing the BJP-led government of "wrecking" India's economy, the Congress on Tuesday claimed that public debt increased by over ₹30 lakh crore in 57 months of the Modi dispensation, pushing the nation into an "unending debt cycle".

Citing Finance Ministry documents, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that between March 2014 and December 2018, India's public debt increased by a "whopping and shocking" 57%, going up to ₹83,40,026 crore.

"The sensational and shocking documents of the Finance Ministry now reflect that the Modi government has taken loans of ₹30,28,945 crore post March 2014-Dec 2018. In 70 years, the total debt of the country up to March 2014 was ₹53,11,081 crore. It is clear that Modi ji took loans on India's resources and completely decimated India's economy," he alleged.

Surjewala claimed that every individual who is facing a challenge of livelihood has been burdened by the debt taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government due to their "sheer economic mismanagement" and for publicity as well as helping their "crony capitalist friends".

He said 130 crore Indians have been burdened with an additional loan of ₹23,300 per person in four years and nine months of the Modi government.

The per person debt was ₹40,854 in 70 years up to March 2014, but it has gone up to ₹64,154 in 57 months of the Modi government.

The Congress spokesperson also termed the Modi government a "habitual offender" in hiding data, saying that it refused to disclose the extra debt that it took from December 2018 to March 2019.

"We searched through the debt documents and they tell us that there would be an extra debt of ₹7,16,700 crore that this government would have taken up to March 2019, taking India's debt to over ₹90,56,000 crore," Surjewala said.

"This is a story of gross economic mismanagement and burdening the entire country. On one hand, the debt is rising and on the other hand, ₹5,50,000 crore debt burden of its industrialist friends has been written off," he claimed.

Surjewala also accused the BJP government of making firms such as BSNL, MTNL, HAL, ONGC and SAIL debt-ridden.

"Suit-boot government has made the country debt-ridden," he alleged.

Is it not anti-national to play with India's resources, Surjewala asked.

"The prime minister is pushing India into an unending debt cycle and is wrecking India's economy by his failed Modinomics," he said.