'Achche din' PR will take a beating, unfortunately PM Modi living in denial: Rahul Gandhi

Congress president said that the statement by American economist Paul Krugman was an endorsement of what the opposition party has been “saying for over two years”.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has now targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a recent statement by Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, who warned of a possible mass unemployment in the country if manufacturing sector fails to grow. Hitting out at PM Modi, the Gandhi scion said “unfortunately, we have a PM who lives in denial”.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, the Congress president said that the statement by the American economist was an endorsement of what the opposition party has been “saying for over two years”.

Citing the report, the Congress chief further said that the “achche din PR will take a beating”.

He tweeted, “The Nobel prize winning economist, Paul Krugman confirms what we’ve been saying for over two years now. Mass unemployment is the biggest threat India faces.   Unfortunately, we have a PM who lives in denial. Afraid his "Acche Din" PR will take a beating.”

Speaking about current Indian economic scenario, Krugman had also pointed to “problem of high degree of inequality” in India. He said India has made "enormous strides" in economic progress but the wealth has "not been evenly distributed".

He had, however, also hailed the economic progress of the country saying “India achieved as much economic progress in the (last) 30 years as the Great Britain did in 150 years. It is a very rapid space of transformation”.

Terming India`s economic growth progress as "extraordinary", he said the country has become (on purchasing power) the world`s largest economy overtaking Japan and while being behind the US and China, it is far bigger than any European country.

Attributing factors that played a role in the economic "progress", Krugman said there was a dramatic change in India`s policy including liberalised policies taken in early 1990s.

"I am on the Centre-Left, but I do not think the government should have a heavy hand on economy. India used to have License Raj, where bureaucratic obstacles were immense and that has not gone away completely but enormously reduced. India has become a much easier place to do business that it was. The PM said India moved from 148 to 100 in the rankings. That is not a badge of distinction, but it is better than it was," he observed.

According to Krugman, the transformation of policy came at a good time and the country opened up at the right time. The infrastructure is still a problem but it is better than before, he said.

(With IANS inputs)