As the Central government continues to battle the dipping economy, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia Virendra Singh Mast while giving bizarre logic stated that the clothes people wear is evidence that there is no recession. Mast argued they would have worn dhoti-kurtas had the economy been that bad.
Mast, while addressing a programme in Ballia, claimed that world might be in the grip of recession but India will not be impacted by it as its rural and agricultural economy is very strong.
“Had there been recession, we would have come here wearing dhoti and kurta and not coats and jackets. Had there been recession we would not have purchased clothes, pants and pajamas,” Mast said.
“India is a country of villages and not just metros. This country not only has metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata but also has 6.5 lakh villages. Banking reports say that in banks, most of the money deposited is that of villagers,” he said.
Mast added, “Mahatama Gandhi, Dr K B Hedgewar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Jayaprakash Narayan had expressed confidence in the villagers and helped the country gain independence.”
“If people from villagers had not sacrificed, India would not have gotten freedom from the Mughals and the Britishers,” he further said.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had slashed India’s growth rate to 4.8 per cent and the global growth rate to 3.3 per cent for the current fiscal year which was expected to rise to 5.8 per cent in 2020.
In its World Economic Outlook Report, IMF stated that the growth markdown largely reflects a downward revision to India’s projection, where domestic demand has slowed more sharply than expected.
IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath has given two reasons for the sharp cuts – one is stress in the non-banking financial sector and the other is weak rural income.
(With PTI inputs)