A video of BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lack of ‘formal education in economics’ for the current economic downturn has gone viral on social media platforms. In the viral video, Swamy is seen giving an interview to a TV channel and reminding how he had first warned in 2015 that the Indian economy may go down the hill.
“Jaitley couldn’t do it because he’s not trained in economics. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has also not done formal education in economics,” Swamy is heard saying in an interview to NewsX TV channel. He goes on to say, “So I tried to put across the idea that we are beginning to start on a tailspin….I’ve been warning and writing to the prime minister. What’s happened is since 2015 we are sliding down. And now the quarter is down to 5%. The 5% is on current prices. I don’t think in constant prices, this will be more than 3.5%. That’s a real real collapse we’re heading to.”
Swamy also said that the current gloomy situation in the Indian economy meant that India was heading to ‘not a recession but economic depression.’
Swamy’s interview to NewsX was broadcast on 31 August, a day after the GDP data showed that the Indian economy had grown only by 5% in the first quarter of the financial year 2019-20. Taking to Twitter, Swamy had said that that his own government led by PM Modi was bereft of both knowledge and boldness to save the economy.
The BJP’s motormouth MP’s video interview blaming PM Modi’s lack of formal education in economics for the economic recession has evoked plenty of reactions on social media with even his die-hard critics now applauding him for daring to speak the truth.
Subramanian swamy slammed his own Modi govt, Called modi as uneducated PM. pic.twitter.com/l3RIJDgk2k
— Retweet Sarkar ? (@GoSlowplz) September 11, 2019
@nsitharaman @PMOIndia @Swamy39 Swamy has raised very valid questions on ?? economy which needs to be addressed urgently to reverse the falling GDP & reach near 5Trillion mark @narendramodi @AmitShah https://t.co/j5R39akwFm
— Raman Chopra रमन (@shiriram15) September 11, 2019
Swamy ji says PM Narendra Modi has not done any formal education. In the same breath he claims to have writing letters to him (probably in English)
Arre bhaiya, chaiwala kaise padhega tumhara angrezi mein letter? pic.twitter.com/AwzaHzpVOn
— Dadathaakur (@DadaThaakur) September 11, 2019
This comes just days after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman faced social media roasting for her comments blaming Uber and Ola cab services for the slump in the country’s automobile sector. She had said, “Automobile sector, in particular, has been affected by several things. These include BS6 (Bharat Stage 6) movement, the registration fee issue that has been deferred till June and the mindset of millennials, who are now preferring not to commit EMIs to buying automobiles but prefer to use Ola or Uber or take the metro.”
Her comments left Twitterati amused as they trended #BoycottMillennials on the microblogging site.