Is it correct to assume that our economy was better in Congress days than under current BJP rule?

I am not a supporter of Congress. I practically despise Congress for its appeasement policy. Congress has never been secular in any sense. Congress has been responsible for unabated influx from Bangladesh, for causing demographic change, for causing the J&K fiasco, not putting and Uniform Civil Code. In fact Congress is squarely responsible for not having a secular nation, Congress never treated each citizen at par.

But when it comes to the economy, I do not have so much to complain about Congress’s performance particularly while compared to the performance of BJP government from 2014.

Before I go deep on the subject, I would like to tell you the great Onion story, how it impacted the rise & fall of government at Delhi both central and state. History shows humble onions can deep fry political class. History Shows Why No Politician Wants To Mess With the Onion.

The 1980 General Election, or the “Onion Election” as Indira Gandhi called it. Rising onion prices contributed to the fall of the first non-Congress government post-Independence.

It Were Onions That Stood Between Sushma Swaraj and Delhi - It was the Onion price that made Sushmaji lose Delhi election,which BJP could never capture again. Onions were selling for 40-50/kg at that time.

The BJP has failed to capture power in Delhi after Sushma Swaraj was ousted by Sheila Dikshit in 1998 due to the onion crisis. (Photo: Reuters)

The Formidable Onion forced the fall of Manmohan Singh government -In 2013 the Onion prices shot up to Rs 100/kg in some parts of north India. UPA II got nervous as it was preparing for Assembly elections in crucial states like Delhi and Rajasthan. The Congress was comprehensively routed in both states. Finally UPA lost national election in 2014.

Onion price hit again in 2019 December- This time its BJP government. Onion prices in India up by over 400% after March. In Places like Panaji in Goa, the rates were as high at Rs 165 per kilogram. In fact, the average price of a kilo of onions across 114 cities came to over Rs 100, according to official data. No surprise BJP lost Delhi election miserably.

Now just think if one Onion can make the political parties cry so much, how much impact the economic slowdown can have on the electoral battle.

BJP government has been disastrous for the economy. It doesn’t seem that it has any understanding about economy. All kind of bogus numbers being thrown around to impress and confuse the people without realising that its not the numbers but the reality that matters. GDP growing, IMF & World Bank praising India for economic growth but nation losing employment in crores, unemployment reaching 45 years high, public debt almost becoming double in 6 years, Rupee falling, NPA sky rocketing inspite of writing of 6.60 lakh crores bad loan, export not growing, external debt increasing, Real Estate doomed, Automobile sector doomed, Fiscal deficit increasing. I can go on giving accounts of failure, but off no use.

On the other hand the BJP government is getting increasingly obsessed with Congress bashing, still not realising that it needs to work on the economy. People were not happy with Congress, that’s the reason elected BJP. It doesn’t help to make us count mistakes of Congress, the nation already knows that. We are interested in performance.

No Congress was not good either. But at least the economy was breathing. People brought BJP to power expecting “Good days” to come and even given 2nd chance in 2019 to work on the ailing economy. But till date BJP has performed dismally.

There is so much allegation of corruption against Congress ( though charges against most of the accused not proved in court ) as against there is supposedly no corruption charge against BJP government. It is blamed that Manmohan Singh was the weakest prime minister. As against this we have one of the strongest prime minister in power, but economy is shambling. On the other hand weakest prime minister Manmohan was walking straight at least on economic front from day one he became finance minister of India.

Even people are asking why don’t the government take advice from Manmohan Singh. Never ever in the history of independent India people expected government to take advice from an ex prime minister from opposite camp. I believe it says all to sum up.

Image source - Google and reference article

Thanks for reading and comments are welcome.

Ref:

1. Political outcome: History shows humble onions can deep fry political class | India News - Times of India
2. History Shows Why No Politician Wants To Mess With the Onion