Debt per Indian increased by 2.53 times in 9 years of Modi govt: Cong

New Delhi: The Congress alleged on Sunday that debt, unemployment and inequality have risen in the country under the Narendra Modi government and the debt on every Indian has increased by 2.53 times in the last nine years.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said the astronomical increase in the government's debt due to "Modinomics" has crushed the common people as the debt per Indian has increased from Rs 43,124 to Rs 1,09,373 since 2014.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged that the "friends" of Prime Minister Modi kept "picking pockets" as the media diverted public attention.

"How did the wealth of the prime minister's 'favourite friend' increase by eight times during the pandemic? How did the wealth of the prime minister's 'favourite friend' increase by 46 per cent in one year?

"The media kept diverting the attention of the public, while the 'friends' of the prime minister kept picking pockets. The earnings of the poor were stolen by 'friends'," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Vallabh alleged that the economy has witnessed a K-shaped recovery under the BJP-led regime and asked why did the debt per Indian see a 2.53-time jump in the last nine years.

"From 1947 till March 31, 2014, the total debt of the Indian government increased to Rs 55.87 lakh crore. Why, in the last nine years, it grew to Rs 155.31 lakh crore, a jump of 2.77 times?

"Why is the money borrowed just helping in a K-shaped recovery, with 50 per cent of the population owning three per cent of the country's total wealth and ending up paying 64 per cent of the GST collected?" he asked at a press conference here.

"The Modi government is burying our future generations in debt. The debt per Indian increased from Rs 43,124 to Rs 1,09,373 in the last nine years. The debt per Indian has become 2.53 times higher than what it was in 2014, in the last nine years of the Modi government," Vallabh alleged.

He said in absolute terms, the debt per Indian has increased by Rs 66,249 in the last nine years.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for 2022, India's debt to GDP was 83 per cent, far above other emerging markets and developing economies that have an average debt of 64.5 per cent, the Congress leader said.

He cited figures of the outstanding internal and external debt and other liabilities of the Indian government.

Vallabh said according to the Oxfam report, the wealthiest five per cent in India own more than 60 per cent of the country's wealth, while the bottom half of the population (50 per cent) together share just three per cent of the wealth.

On the other side, 64 per cent of the Rs 14.83 lakh crore collected in Goods and Services Tax (GST) came from the bottom 50 per cent of the population, with only three per cent of the amount coming from the top 10 per cent.

"The above borrowing is just helping in a K-shaped recovery, with some sectors doing well but not others. The (COVID-19) pandemic hit the middle-and-low-income groups and small and medium industries harder. As a result, the growth in consumption (Private Final Consumption Expenditure or PFCE) fell from 25.9 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of financial year 2022-23 to 9.7 per cent in the second quarter (Q2).

To a question on the government blocking access to a BBC documentary on the 2002 Godhra riots, Vallabh said, "There is a scheme of the government of India called 'Block in India', like 'Make in India', 'Startup India'. The government does not want difficult questions to be asked. If the BBC headquarters were in Delhi, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) might have been at their doorsteps by now."