Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said Niti Aayog’s revised GDP numbers were a “bad joke”.

He demanded that the body be disbanded for slashing the growth rate during UPA regime allegedly at the behest of the Narendra Modi government.

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“Actually they are worse than a bad joke,” the minister tweeted.

He further accused the Niti Aayog of “doing a hatchet job”, adding that it was time to wind up the “worthless” body.

Chidambaram’s remarks echoed the scathing attack launched by the Congress accusing the Modi government of “manipulating” GDP data of previous years.

The party said it reflects a desperate attempt to undermine India’s growth story over the last 15 years.

“The entire GDP back series data released today reflects the desperate attempt of a defeatist Modi Government to undermine India’s growth story over the last 15 years. Modi Government and its puppet Niti Aayog want the people to believe that 2+2=8. Such is the gimmickry, jugglery, trickery and chicanery being sold as ‘back series data’,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement.

The government had on Wednesday lowered the country’s economic growth rate during the previous Congress-led UPA regime, shaving off over one percentage point from the only year when India posted double-digit GDP growth post liberalisation and from each of the three years with 9-plus per cent expansion.

Recalibrating data of past years using 2011-12 as the base year instead of 2004-05, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) estimated that India’s GDP grew by 8.5 per cent in the financial year 2010-11 (April 2010 to March 2011) and not at 10.3 per cent as previously estimated.

Similarly, 9.3 per cent growth rate each in 2005-06 and 2006-07 was lowered to 7.9 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively, while 7.7 per cent rate was now estimated for 2007-08 instead of 9.8 per cent.

The revised growth numbers have been released ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Chidambaram further wondered if the National Statistical Commission has been disbanded, which had calculated the earlier numbers.

He also wondered if Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar would agree to a debate the data than telling journalists that their questions are “undeserving of an answer”.